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Virgin adds capacity at Manchester and grows retail network
Virgin Atlantic has increased flights from Manchester, while Virgin Holidays has announced the opening of five new stores.
In September, the airline announced it would be adding 30,000 seats from the north-west for winter 2019.
Yet the expanded summer schedule from Manchester to Orlando, Barbados and Las Vegas, increases capacity on these routes by 11% compared to Summer 2019 – a total of 43,000 extra seats.
Expansion to the Virgin Atlantic flying programme will include flights to Barbados from Manchester increasing from two times a week to three times a week for the whole of the summer season, offering an additional 10,000 seats.
There will also be two extra weekly flights for the peak season to Las Vegas and an extra 10,000 seats.
There will be up to two extra weekly flights to Orlando, offering up to 14 flights a week in the peak summer season and 23,000 extra seats.
Virgin Atlantic has also announced two extra flights a week from Gatwick to Orlando.
Flights will go on sale from Saturday (9 November).
Together with Virgin Connect (formerly Flybe) and Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic now offers almost 800,000 long-haul seats to popular destinations for summer 2020.
Meanwhile Virgin Holidays will be investing in five new retail stores, creating 28 jobs.
The stores, which are all scheduled to open this year, will be in Birmingham, Derby, Peterborough, Romford and Stoke-on-Trent.
The five new stores are in addition to seven already-scheduled openings in Canterbury, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and St Albans, all of which are on track to open before the end of the December.
Juha Jarvinen, EVP commercial at Virgin Atlantic, said: “Today’s announcement outlines the latest phase in our growth strategy at Manchester, our home in the north.
“In September we committed to 30,000 additional seats from Manchester for winter 2019 and today, we are expanding on that with an extra 43,000 seats to key leisure destinations for summer 2020, which is a clear sign of our ambition to offer increased choice to our customers travelling from the north west.
“With a greater number of flights to some of our most popular destinations, alongside a brand-new iconic Clubhouse scheduled to open next spring, we’re confident our customers will be delighted by the Virgin Atlantic experience in Manchester.”
Virgin Atlantic Flightstore
We currently work with over 1,000 Tour Operators and Travel Agents in the United Kingdom, and our Price Match Guarantee means we offer them the very best Virgin Atlantic fares available in the market.
Jennifer Morris
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