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Virgin Atlantic drops Shanghai flights, its last East Asian destination

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Whilst no announcement has been made, Virgin Atlantic appears to be dropping its daily flight to Shanghai.

The flight has been removed from the schedule from 26th October, which is the last day of the summer flying season.

Shanghai is the only Virgin Atlantic route to China and indeed the only remaining route to East Asia.

Virgin Atlantic to drop flights to Shanghai

Virgin Atlantic has flown to Shanghai for over 20 years, so this is not the cancellation of a route being run as a trial. However, with Tokyo and Hong Kong dropped in recent years, it was beginning to look like an outlier.

The logic for dropping it is there, I accept. At 13-14 hours each way, due to the diversion for flying around Russian airspace, the same aircraft could do two runs to New York or Boston in the time taken for one return to Shanghai. No doubt we will see Virgin Atlantic launch yet another new route to the USA in the next few weeks.

It is well publicised that Chinese tourism has not yet returned en masse post pandemic. Chinese tourism to the UK has also been disproportionately hit by the removal of VAT reclamation on luxury goods (indeed, all goods) for tourists.

For those Chinese who do still choose to visit the UK, flight times are shorter on Chinese carriers which are still flying over Russia.

What does this mean for the new Seoul route?

Looking eastwards, Delhi is now, surprisingly, the furthest east you can fly on Virgin Atlantic.

The airline is still committed to launching flights to Seoul as soon as the Korean Air and Asiana merger is approved.

This route is likely to go ahead. Virgin Atlantic is being given extra slots at Heathrow specifically to fly to Seoul and Korean may have committed to purchase a minimum number of seats each day as part of its codeshare agreement.

The merger can only go ahead if another airline agrees to fly long-haul between the UK and Seoul so you can be fairly certain that it will happen, one way or another.

If you are booked to travel to Shanghai with Virgin Atlantic, the airline will be in touch to discuss rerouting. I suspect you will be encouraged to move to China Eastern as a fellow SkyTeam member.

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Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (149)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • davefl says:
    17 Jul17 July 05:39

    The cost and time penalty of routing around Russian airspace was the reason I saw elsewhere

    • Jetset Boyz says:
      17 Jul17 July 07:38

      Saw this yesterday over on Bluesky…

      “A reminder today that an airline exec told me recently that it is cheaper in cash terms not to overfly Russia between Europe & Asia. In other words, burning extra fuel and time is cheaper than Russia overflight charges were.”

      • Nick says:
        17 Jul17 July 09:39

        It’s true that Russian overflight costs were ridiculous (fun fact, they were actually paid direct to Aeroflot as a form of indirect government subsidy), but not that the diversion is cheaper. If it were then it would have been flown that way anyway. The Russians were very clever in making it still the cheapest way to ensure a revenue stream.

      • jjoohhnn says:
        17 Jul17 July 10:29

        For a specific flight perhaps, but that ignores the cost of the extra time in how the aircraft can be used for its next flights on its return to base.

  • Rizz says:
    17 Jul17 July 05:54

    Not sure about the title: “Virgin Atlantic drops Shanghai flights, its last Asian destination”.

    Last I checked, Delhi, Mumbai & Male were all still in Asia…

    • NorthernLass says:
      17 Jul17 July 06:20

      I was just thinking this and wondering if the continental boundaries were redrawn and I missed it!
      Also having a brief fantasy that VS will launch a second non-US route from MAN …

    • BJ says:
      17 Jul17 July 06:28

      While true, to be fair to @Rob it is common to draw a distinction between Asia and South Asia and I’m sure that was all he was thinking in creating the title. The continent being so large other designation including Central, North and South East Asia are also common.

    • Rhys says:
      17 Jul17 July 06:28

      Suspect Rob forgot to add the ‘East’ in there…

    • Rob says:
      17 Jul17 July 09:02

      Don’t forget Dubaï and Abu Dhabi too!

      • Rizz says:
        17 Jul17 July 13:13

        And Tel Aviv technically too, if we’re being pedantic!

        Don’t think VS flies to AUH though, only DXB.

  • Ryan says:
    17 Jul17 July 06:10

    Absolutely ridiculous! I spend 5 years collecting a million Virgin miles and then they cut HK and Shanghai, my nearest airports!

    • BJ says:
      17 Jul17 July 06:36

      2 million Hilton points can generate a lot if value at SLH at the moment potentially freeing up cash to spend on miles- and status-earning revenue flights.

      • NorthernLass says:
        17 Jul17 July 07:20

        Are the SLH rates back then?

        • BJ says:
          17 Jul17 July 07:26

          Well I’ve seen lots of new options in recent searches so I assumed SLH

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        17 Jul17 July 08:33

        This, really. It’s now so easy to get well beyond 0.33p per HH point that I no longer think you’re losing anything like half the value by transferring Virgin to Hilton at the 3:2 ratio. Ending up doing better than 1p per Virgin point via this route is entirely possible. I’ve just shifted some myself.

        • Rob says:
          17 Jul17 July 09:21

          You can buy Hilton points with a 100% bonus for much of the year which caps their value.

  • Kwab says:
    17 Jul17 July 06:14

    Yes….Maybe East Asia is more specific….Any timeline for when we can expect to Seoul on the timetable?

    • G says:
      17 Jul17 July 14:56

      When the Asiana / KAL merger is approved, all national regulators have approved the merger barring the US department of transportation.

  • BJ says:
    17 Jul17 July 06:20

    I wonder if they might now boost Toronto or add another Canadian destination although the winter would not ne best time for that.

    I imagine they will fly to ICN once the merger is sorted but expect it’ll last 12-18 months at best. If this happens do they get to keep the LHR slots?

  • StillintheSun says:
    17 Jul17 July 07:05

    I’ll need to switch my Shanghai to London flight. Skyteam really is full of the airlines no one else wanted. China Eastern has not had the greatest reviews for their business class product. How you can serve food so poor to average from a country with such good food is beyond me. Does anyone have anything good to say about them?

    The only other direct flight is BA. I’m Virgin Gold (by match not merit). I’d have thought an agreed switch by Virgin to BA is a no go but any thoughts as to whether I’m unduly pessimistic on this as well?

    Many thanks!

    • Princess says:
      17 Jul17 July 08:02

      Oh no! I will need to do the same! I have a flight from Shanghai to London during Easter holiday next year….

  • DaveP says:
    17 Jul17 July 07:15

    This is bad news as have a flight to PVG booked for next March with an onward flight from there to Tokyo using Avios with JAL. 🫤

    • Paul says:
      17 Jul17 July 23:19

      My wife and I also have an Upper Class flight booked LHR to PVG in March using points, then an onward business class flight to Tokyo on ANA, which cost me over £1,600 return for the two of us. In Tokyo we pick up a cruise on which I’ve paid a deposit.
      I’ve been told that Virgin don’t care about our onward flight or cruise deposit and won’t reimburse us. Our ANA flight is non-refundable. I cannot afford to fly London to Tokyo club class and pay the enormous fares, and I certainly won’t fly that distance economy … so at the moment we’re buggered!
      Oh, and we will not fly on a crap airline like China Eastern.

  • Jetset Boyz says:
    17 Jul17 July 07:34

    “No doubt we will see Virgin Atlantic launch yet another new route to the USA in the next few weeks.”

    Erm, no they’re increasing flights to India…

    From 27th October they’ll operate an expanded schedule of 35 weekly flights to India: 14 x weekly to Delhi and Mumbai; and 7x weekly to Bengaluru.

    • Rhys says:
      17 Jul17 July 07:49

      That was already on the cards though.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        17 Jul17 July 08:43

        The Shanghai cancellation might’ve too … they just didn’t announce.

        • BJ says:
          17 Jul17 July 08:54

          The dates on PVG ending and India ramping up would certainly suggest it.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            17 Jul17 July 12:20

            Yup and unless they’re getting a load of new aircraft between now and then makes even more sense

          • Rhys says:
            17 Jul17 July 13:28

            It’s the end of the S24 schedule – there will be a lot of schedule changes happening that weekend. Doesn’t mean one caused the other directly.

      • cc-not-bcc says:
        17 Jul17 July 16:31

        “It’s the end of the S24 schedule – there will be a lot of schedule changes happening that weekend. Doesn’t mean one caused the other directly.”

        So, if we see “Virgin Atlantic launch yet another new route to the USA in the next few weeks”, is it related to the Shanghai cancellation or not?

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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