Virgin Atlantic has just announced plans to launch a seasonal route, which will be the carrier’s shortest service. However, if you’re a passenger, you’re out of luck…
Virgin Atlantic adds London to Brussels cargo flights
For the upcoming winter season, Virgin Atlantic plans to operate dedicated cargo flights between London (LHR) and Brussels (BRU). The 218-mile flight will operate between October 27, 2024, and March 29, 2025, on a mix of Airbus A330-300s and Airbus A350-1000s.
The aim of the service is reportedly to transport time-critical goods, such as perishables and pharmaceuticals, which are today primarily transported between the two areas by truck service. These flights will offer cargo capacity of up to 50 tons, offering companies the opportunity to export and import goods between Europe and markets in the UK and across Virgin Atlantic’s network, with fast air connectivity.
Here’s how Juha Jarvinen, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Commercial Officer, describes this addition:
“During the winter period, we will operate services to Brussels, a destination we are familiar with having flown there successfully during the Covid-19 pandemic. This new service will transport a range of goods including perishables and pharmaceuticals, offering fast connections for our customers between Brussels and the wider European region and Virgin Atlantic’s extensive route network via London Heathrow.”
What’s Virgin Atlantic’s real motivation for this route?
Aside from a brief period during the pandemic, Virgin Atlantic isn’t really in the business of operating exclusive freighter services without passengers.
For that matter, it’s hard to make money operating dedicated cargo flights with passenger aircraft, especially if you’re not removing seats from the cabin (which I can’t imagine the airline will do, given the limited number of frequencies operating as part of this service).
For time-critical goods, you’d think that the existing services between the airports would do the trick, given the number of daily passenger flights that exist between the two airports. For that matter, if the demand were so huge, you’d think British Airways would just upgrade its narrow body flights to wide body aircraft, so it can transport both passengers and substantial cargo.
That raises the question… is there more to this? Is this ridiculously short flight really lucrative enough to make Virgin Atlantic get into the freighter business for the winter season?
The only thing I can come up with is wondering if this might be some sort of a method for Virgin Atlantic to use its slots during the winter season, when demand for air travel is typically a bit lower. Heathrow is slot-controlled, and operates under a “use it or lose it” arrangement, where slots can be taken away if not used.
In the past we’ve seen airlines sometimes operate “ghost” flights, which are just very short flights with no passengers or cargo, in order to technically use slots. This latest cargo service sure seems to me like a method to use up slots, especially given the timing of this service. It’s also possible I’m reading too much into this.
Bottom line
Virgin Atlantic’s newest route is between London and Brussels, and will exclusively operate in the winter season. This is exclusively a cargo service, which we don’t otherwise see Virgin Atlantic do a whole lot of. Flying such big planes on such short routes sure seems to me like a way to use up slots, so I wonder if that’s the motivation, or if there’s something I’m missing.
What do you make of Virgin Atlantic’s dedicated cargo flights to Brussels?
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