Virgin Atlantic will quickly be canceling its solely path to China, and I can’t assist however really feel like this sort of displays the larger situation with Virgin Atlantic’s enterprise mannequin, and the way the airline is at this level principally working as a subsidiary of Delta.
Virgin Atlantic cancels London to Shanghai route
As of October 26, 2024, Virgin Atlantic will probably be discontinuing its route between London (LHR) and Shanghai (PVG). For context, the flight at present operates each day with a Boeing 787-9, with the next schedule:
VS250 London to Shanghai departing 12:35PM arriving 8:20AM (+1 day)
VS251 Shanghai to London departing 11:10AM arriving 6:50PM
The 5,754-mile flight is blocked at 12hr45min eastbound and 14hr40min westbound.
This can be a route that Virgin Atlantic launched again in 1999, so the corporate has plenty of historical past out there. The airline suspended the route in the beginning of the pandemic, after which restarted it once more as of Could 2023. It’s not lasting lengthy, although, because it’ll be passed by October 2024. Different airways working on this market embody British Airways and China Jap.
That is vital, as a result of Shanghai was Virgin Atlantic’s final vacation spot within the Far East. The airline additionally used to fly to Hong Kong (HKG) and Tokyo Narita (NRT), however these routes have been already terminated up to now.
Virgin Atlantic’s difficult enterprise mannequin
I can’t say I’m stunned to see Virgin Atlantic reducing Shanghai flights. For one, Virgin Atlantic is at an obstacle in comparison with China Jap by way of the space it has to fly, in an effort to keep away from Russian airspace. Moreover, China demand simply hasn’t come again after the pandemic, and plenty of airways are scuffling with China service.
Nonetheless, symbolically I can’t assist however level out how vital it’s that Virgin Atlantic is pulling out of the Far East, because the SkyTeam service’s “world” retains getting smaller. It factors to a much bigger situation with Virgin Atlantic’s enterprise, which is that being an completely lengthy haul service isn’t terribly profitable, as you want feeder site visitors.
Needless to say Delta owns a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic, and at this level Virgin Atlantic primarily appears to be diminished to an airline that’s centered round serving Delta’s community.
Virgin Atlantic operates plenty of routes throughout the Atlantic as a part of its three way partnership with Delta, the place the airways have income sharing, and Virgin Atlantic has a greater value construction (partially attributable to decrease labor prices).
Many of the service’s different routes have each a superb little bit of native UK demand, plus demand from individuals connecting throughout the Atlantic. That features locations like India and South Africa. The one routes that Delta actually has no half in is Virgin Atlantic’s Caribbean service, which is after all a sensible method to fill planes counter seasonally.
It’s attention-grabbing to replicate on how Virgin Atlantic seemingly can’t make anything work. Virgin Atlantic was going to launch Sao Paulo (GRU) flights, however has now canceled the route twice previous to launch.
The irony after all is that Delta is the world’s most worthwhile airline. So that you’d suppose that Delta having such a controlling stake in Virgin Atlantic, plus partnering so carefully with the airline, would result in profitability. However that’s not the case, as Virgin Atlantic continues to lose cash, whilst different lengthy haul airways reported report earnings final 12 months.
Backside line
As of late October 2024, Virgin Atlantic will probably be discontinuing flights between London and Shanghai. This was the service’s final remaining path to the Far East, because the airline beforehand terminated Hong Kong and Tokyo flights.
Whereas I can’t say I’m stunned by this explicit reduce, it’s unhappy how Virgin Atlantic has primarily been diminished to a Delta subsidiary. Then once more, I’m undecided there’s a greater enterprise case for the airline.
What do you make of Virgin Atlantic ending Shanghai flights?
