Virgin Atlantic will be starting a new daily route between London Heathrow and Tel Aviv (Israel) with the first flight taking place on 25 September 2019.
Flying daily between London Heathrow Airport and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport, the five hour flight will operate on an Airbus A330-300 aircraft.
Offering over 180,000 seats each year, the new service will offer seamless connections and a consistent long haul onboard experience for those customers connecting from Tel Aviv seamlessly via London Heathrow to destinations throughout North America across both the Virgin Atlantic and Delta networks including New York, Seattle, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
As well as flying customers, Virgin Atlantic will offer a cargo service from Tel Aviv for goods such as fresh produce and high tech products to prime markets in the US, and offer more choice for companies exporting a wide range of cargoes to Israel’s buoyant business and consumer markets.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive officer, Shai Weiss said: “2019 marks the start of a new phase of growth for Virgin Atlantic as we work to achieve our ambition to become the most loved travel company.
“Tel Aviv represents a fantastic opportunity for us – Israel’s economy is booming and as one of the world’s leading tech hubs we’re anticipating many business travellers and entrepreneurs flying between Tel Aviv and the UK.
“We also see a significant opportunity to increase competition in the US – Tel Aviv market, using the strength of our trans-Atlantic Joint Venture with Delta to offer customers from Tel Aviv a wide range of US destinations connecting through London Heathrow including New York and San Francisco.”
In 2019, Virgin Atlantic will welcome the first four of 12 Airbus A350-1000 to its fleet which not only boasts a totally redesigned on board experience for customers but will help transform the fleet into one of the quietest and most fuel efficient in the sky.
The airline will also become a founding member of a new, $13 billion transatlantic joint venture with over 300 daily transatlantic flights and 96 non-stop destinations, alongside Delta, Air France and KLM as well as launching new services from London Heathrow to Las Vegas and Manchester to Los Angeles.
