Virgin Atlantic to Axe London-Shanghai Daily Route

DALLAS — As of October 26, 2024, Virgin Atlantic (VS) will end its daily route between London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG).

The route, the last destination in the Far East for VS after axing its Hong Kong and Tokyo Narita routes, is operated by a Boeing 787-9 and has the following schedule:

• VS250: London to Shanghai departs at 12:35 PM, arriving at 8:20 AM the next day.
• VS251: Shanghai to London departs at 11:10 AM, arriving at 6:50 PM.

The airline launched the LHR-PVG route in 1999. Competitors in this market include British Airways (BA) and China Eastern Airlines (MU).

Reasons for the Discontinuation

According to Ben Schlappig from onemileatatime.com, several factors contribute to this decision, including the disadvantage VS faces compared to MUcc due to the longer flight path avoiding Russian airspace and the sluggish return of demand for travel to China post-pandemic.

Schlappig also argues that a major issue with VS' business model is that being a completely long-haul carrier isn't very profitable since you need feeder traffic.

In the end, the British carrier seems to depend more and more on Delta Air Lines' (DL) network, almost to the point of of being considered a subsidiary of the American giant. Do you agree?