Virgin Atlantic Seoul Flights

[Phloxy55]

Hoping to travel to Korea in 2026 and have a Virgin Credit Card voucher than will expire May 2026. Possibly also travelling to East Coast USA Autumn 2025, but would rather use the voucher for a higher-value redemption. Just wondering if anyone has a feel for the likelihood that Virgin will be running flights to Seoul by then? Looking through the news all I can see are articles from 2023 suggesting the flights would already be up and running by late 2024.

[dannyc]

Virgin’s route to Seoul is conditional on the Korean Air and Asiana merger being approved. The merger has been approved in all markets except the US, but the CEOs are confident of signing off on the deal by the end of next month.

Whether Virgin still wants to operate the route when it has dropped all routes East of India is another thing though.

[jht90]

dannyc wrote:

Virgin’s route to Seoul is conditional on the Korean Air and Asiana merger being approved. The merger has been approved in all markets except the US, but the CEOs are confident of signing off on the deal by the end of next month.

Whether Virgin still wants to operate the route when it has dropped all routes East of India is another thing though.

I thought Virgin had to operate this route for a minimum duration (2 years maybe?) as a result of the Korean/Asiana merger?

[JDB]

jht90 wrote:

dannyc wrote:

Virgin’s route to Seoul is conditional on the Korean Air and Asiana merger being approved. The merger has been approved in all markets except the US, but the CEOs are confident of signing off on the deal by the end of next month.

Whether Virgin still wants to operate the route when it has dropped all routes East of India is another thing though.

I thought Virgin had to operate this route for a minimum duration (2 years maybe?) as a result of the Korean/Asiana merger?

Virgin isn’t obliged to operate the remedy slots for any particular period even if it is planned/intended to be for at least three years, although the slots would then theoretically be available to another remedy taker for up to 20 IATA seasons.