Virgin Atlantic launches limited Belfast and Glasgow routes

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• K says:

  18 Jul18 July 06:29

  Not sure why you think it’s strange that a city of 1.2 million people gets its own summer scheduled service to one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world, without having to spend 3-4 hours flying south to another country only to fly directly back north again.

  Can connect on Delta services to other US cities too.

  • Rob says:

    18 Jul18 July 09:31

    Because there are only a handful of flights – nowhere near enough to get up a ‘head of steam’ for the route – and the plane and crew will be London based, almost certainly. The first inbound flight and the last outbound flight will presumably be very empty!

• Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:11

  BFS-MCO doesn’t strike me as a route overflowing with business traffic or high-budget leisure travellers. I would have thought that redemptions would be their best chance to shift seats in Upper.

• Cas says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:18

  As a travel agent in the North East of Scotland I would agree it would be nice to connect GLA with ABZ or EDI but the amount of people who go to Vegas for at least a week is actually very high! And since my customers are generally willing to drive to Glasgow for better flights (more direct or less money) I’m happy to see how it all pans out. Loads of people surprisingly don’t like connecting in Heathrow although I’ve never had a problem with it!

  • Anon says:

    18 Jul18 July 08:28

    Do you think there’s demand for GLA-MCO in the winter?

    Or even ABZ-MCO????

• James67 says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:20

  I expect the Vegas flight will be geared towards Virgin Holidays that will be heavily promoted by local travel agents.The other new flight announced this week was EDI-AUH daily by Etihad. Should be available for AA remption and hopefully keep prices exEDI competitive.

• Volker says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:26

  Raffles, from time to time you write about one airline buying slots from another one for millions of pounds. How does it work here? Do the airports in Belfast and Glasgow just squeeze in a few extra flight ops and charge Virgin accordingly or does another airline have to give up anything (temporarily)?

  • Adam (sigma421) says:

    18 Jul18 July 07:28

    That’s only really a problem at airports like Heathrow which are full. Neither Glasgow nor Belfast International are anywhere near capacity so there’s n need for anyone to pull out.

• Andy says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:32

  We go to Vegas for an average 10 nights at a time, 3 times a year.
  Already have 2 Upper seats booked to go to LAS via SFO in October thanks to Tesco

• Richie says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:37

  This news should get some happy posts from the people who live up there, and then they will obviously complain about having to make a connection in London when these routes inevitably don’t work.
  I honestly can’t see these working. I think flights to dubai or qatar are a good idea from the northern airports, as these airlines have a route network to support .
  Virgin would have been better trying a daily flight to a big us hub. Then delta could make the connections

  • sigma421 says:

    18 Jul18 July 07:40

    They will work. These are basically charter flights for Virgin Holidays. Any additional seats they happen to sell ‘flight only’ are just a bonus. Virgin have been flying GLA-MCO on a similar basis (and shuttling their crews up and down on BA!) for some time.

    • Chris1922 says:

      18 Jul18 July 08:43

      Exactly. Not sure why you think this is odd Raffles, it’s nothing new. Virgin have long flown to Orlando from GLA, during the Scottish school hoiday period. Vegas is just another holiday destination, and avoids having to change, either in London or US.

      • layz says:

        18 Jul18 July 11:52

        Although VS like to give the impression of a premium airline their check-in area at GLA is that cheap looking hut called T2 intended for low cost carriers, whereas easyjet had the sense to use the main terminal.

        I know GLA-MCO has been going (seasonal) for some time, so good luck with the new routes.

        BA’s EDI-IBZ was a failure and is coming to an end soon, so book it now if you want to give it a go!

• Gordon says:

  18 Jul18 July 07:48

  Maybe they plan little red to belfast and glasgow at sime point?

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