The carrier is currently flying to Austin, its first new US route since 2017, four times a week using a Boeing 787-9 with 31 Upper Class, 35 premium and 192 economy seats onboard and return fares starting from £516pp.
Plans to expand the service were revealed during a celebration flight to the Texas state capital on Wednesday (8 June) with Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinen among the VIPs marking the occasion.
Branson said Austin was a “fantastic addition” to Virgin’s route network, praising its “entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and innovation”, while Jarvinen said the expansion into Texas marked the carrier’s “next phase of growth”.
Speaking to TTG prior to the flight, Virgin Atlantic’s vice-president of global sales Lee Haslett said Austin was “a brilliant brand match” given its “challenger culture” and growth as a major business hub.
“Texas is somewhere we’ve had our eye on, and demand for Austin has grown and grown both for corporate and leisure,” said Haslett. “Austin is the fourth-largest GDP area in the US since 2014, and brands like Tesla, Apple, [Facebook parent] Meta and Amazon all have operations there.
“We have corporate deals with all of those companies and there’s a great base there that really love our brand. At the same time, we’re also seeing strong leisure demand with people keen to explore Texas and also use great connections from Austin to 10 other US cities. It gives us a great opportunity.”
Haslett said bookings for the Austin service, which launched on 25 May, were “well above” the airline’s predictions when putting forward its business proposal for the route with average ticket revenue 20% higher than other typical US destinations.
He added Virgin Atlantic was hoping to restart its Asia-Pacific destinations from 1 September bringing the airline’s full route network for the first time since the onset of the pandemic.
