Virgin Atlantic has announced its newest long haul destination, launching next spring. It’s an interesting one, and I’m curious what the backstory is…
Virgin Atlantic adds London to Riyadh flight
As of March 30, 2025, Virgin Atlantic will launch a new daily flight between London Heathrow (LHR) and Riyadh (RUH). The airline will use the Airbus A330-900neo for the route, and it will operate with the following schedule:
VS242 London to Riyadh departing 2:45PM arriving 11:35PM
VS243 Riyadh to London departing 1:25AM arriving 7:00AM
The 3,073-mile flight will be blocked at 6hr50min eastbound and 7hr35min westbound. The flight should become bookable as of September 12, 2024. Keep in mind that Virgin Atlantic has an award seat guarantee, so this should be easy to book with Flying Club points once the flight becomes bookable.
This will be Virgin Atlantic’s first time offering regularly scheduled flights to Saudi Arabia. It’s one of three new routes that Virgin Atlantic is launching as of the spring of 2025, with other destinations including Toronto, Canada, and Accra, Ghana.
Interestingly the timings of the new Accra and Riyadh routes seem to coincide with the timings of the Tel Aviv (TLV) route, which has been suspended for some time. Since Heathrow is slot controlled, I can’t help but wonder if Tel Aviv is getting cut, and is being replaced by these two destinations.
What’s Virgin Atlantic’s motivation for Riyadh service?
Virgin Atlantic is 49% owned by Delta, so the carrier’s biggest focus is on the transatlantic joint venture with Delta and Air France-KLM. For years, the airline has been heavily focused on routes across the North Atlantic, with so many other services being cut. So it’s interesting to see Virgin Atlantic launching a route that goes east, rather than west.
So, why is Virgin Atlantic launching flights to Saudi Arabia? According to Virgin Atlantic:
- The service aims to participate in the growth expected from Saudi Vision 2030; currently annual trade between the US and Saudi Arabia is £17.1 billion, and the goal is to make that number £30 billion by 2030
- Riyadh is in growth mode, and Saudi Arabia is the world’s 20th largest economy
- Virgin Atlantic states that this route is expected to primarily have a Saudi Arabian point of sale, seeing customers visiting the UK, as well as connecting to destinations in North America
- Alongside business travel, the route is expected to serve the “visiting friends and relatives” market, as the UK has seen a fivefold increase in Saudi residents between 2000 and 2018
- Riyadh also has a large presence from SkyTeam partner Saudia, so this will offer onward connections for Virgin Atlantic passengers, to destinations within Saudi Arabia, and to Pakistan and beyond
All of that is fair enough, though I find it interesting that this announcement doesn’t mention anything about Riyadh Air. Riyadh Air is the ambitious airline startup expected to launch operations in 2025, connecting Riyadh to points across the globe.
Delta and Riyadh Air have announced plans for a close partnership, with Delta even expected to commence flights to Riyadh. With Delta owning such a big stake in Virgin Atlantic, I can’t help but think that something similar is going on behind the scenes between the two airlines.
You would think that Riyadh Air’s first long haul route would be to London, given what a major market London is. So Virgin Atlantic also serving this route almost seems like it would add competition. I suppose the overall goal of Riyadh Air, though, is to continue to build up Riyadh as a destination, and other airlines flying there helps with that.
We’ll see how this plays out, but I find it interesting that the press release mentions Saudia, and not Riyadh Air. I have to imagine an additional announcement is imminent…
Bottom line
As of the spring of 2025, Virgin Atlantic will launch a new daily flight between London and Riyadh. This marks Virgin Atlantic’s first regularly scheduled service to Saudi Arabia, and this also coincides with the launch of Riyadh Air (roughly… maybe).
While there’s no mention of Riyadh Air, I imagine that there’s some connection there, given that Delta and Riyadh Air are planning a partnership, and Delta is a big shareholder of Virgin Atlantic, and they usually have close commercial ties.
What do you make of Virgin Atlantic launching Riyadh flights?
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