Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. (known as Virgin Atlantic) will suspend its London Heathrow to Shanghai flights from October, abandoning its only route to China due to the high costs of avoiding Russian airspace.
A spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic said in a statement, “The significant challenges and complexities on this route have led to the commercial decision to temporarily suspend flights to Shanghai.”
Virgin Atlantic stated that the increased costs were due to changing the route to avoid Russian airspace, resulting in higher fuel costs, an additional one hour flying time to China, and two hours on the return journey. This, in turn, requires more aircraft and crew. With many airlines no longer flying over Russia or Ukraine, some routes between Europe and Asia have become more complicated.
Following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, the European Commission announced on February 27, 2022, the closure of EU airspace to Russian aircraft. In response, Russia announced the next day the closure of its airspace to airlines from the EU, UK, USA, Canada, and 36 other countries. Following these measures, numerous flights were forced to be canceled or diverted.
Since 1999, Virgin Atlantic has been operating the London Heathrow to Shanghai route, and the suspension of this route further reduces Virgin Atlantic’s connections to the Asia-Pacific region. In recent years, Virgin Atlantic has gradually closed routes to destinations such as Hong Kong, Lahore, and Islamabad. As a British airline, Virgin Atlantic’s operations are now more focused on transatlantic travel, with a new emphasis on Indian routes.
In January of this year, Virgin Atlantic signed an agreement with China Eastern Airlines Corp to establish a codeshare partnership, maintaining connectivity with China.
Additionally, Qantas Airways Ltd. announced on May 14 this year that, due to low demand, it will suspend flights to Shanghai from July 28.
(Adapted from a report by Bloomberg)