BA will increase its daily winter service to nine-times-weekly with the addition of new flights on Wednesdays and Saturdays, matching its summer service.

Virgin will end its Saint Lucia flights on 8 June this year.

BA also plans to increase its five-times-weekly Gatwick-Cancun service to six-times-weekly with the addition on a new Sunday flight from 6 December, and to add two extra Gatwick-Cape Town flights from 10 January 2021, growing frequency to 19 a week.

Virgin on Wednesday (12 February) announced it would return to Cape Town in October after a six-year hiatus.

The carrier’s daily Heathrow-Cape Town service will get under way on 25 October.

Adam Carson, BA’s managing director at Gatwick, said: “We know our customers crave some winter warmth, as these are incredibly popular destinations.

“To make it even easier to get there, we’re increasing the number of flights to Saint Lucia, Cancun and Cape Town from Gatwick, and we’ve put them on days that work well to maximise travellers’ time and annual leave.”