Virgin Atlantic Eyes A Return to Gatwick

But while the opportunities to earn loyalty points have increased hugely during recent months, chances to redeem them for flights have been very much limited.

In common with all airlines, Virgin Atlantic drastically scaled back its service when the pandemic hit. This included dropping all its flights from London Gatwick Airport and consolidating its services from the UK capital at Heathrow.

As the airline pulls itself back from near-collapse during the pandemic, could a return to Gatwick be part of the strategy?

 

Back to the States

While all countries have had a variety of rules on covid tests and quarantine this year, few destinations have been still barring Brits altogether. The UK government’s own messy traffic light system was, until recently, the bigger cause of frustration for travellers and airlines alike.

But while we have been welcoming Americans back from this summer, the US stood firm in effectively barring Brits, and many other nationalities, from all but essential visits. Its own citizens also had to quarantine if they returned from the UK. It took until November for transatlantic routes to reopen and the US still requires arrivals to show they have been fully vaccinated, besides the more usual proof of a negative PCR test.

Nevertheless, it was an emotional return, with old rivals BA and Virgin Atlantic staging a historic simultaneous take off on parallel runways at Heathrow on November 8.

Virgin is heavily reliant on US routes for revenue. It hasn’t the fallback range of destinations that other carriers have and the 18 months absence was crippling. Welcoming the comeback, chief executive Shai Weiss said: “We are simply not Virgin without the Atlantic.”

 

The slots problem

Biden’s green light for Brits is not the end of the story. The number of flights Virgin can currently put on to the US is still lower than it would like. At Heathrow, it has far fewer slots than its main rival British Airways, which is why it is supporting an airport coalition lobbying the UK Government to reintroduce the ‘use it or lose it’ rule. This forces airlines to use at least 80% of their slots at major UK airports or forfeit them but, for understandable reasons, the requirement has been suspended during the pandemic.

 

The case for Gatwick 

While Virgin waits on a Department of Transport decision ‘early next year’ to see if it might get some windfall slots at Heathrow, returning to Gatwick may be a better bet. Indeed as it has its own unused slots at the Sussex airport the airline will have to swiftly make its mind up if the ‘use it or lose it’ rule is reinstated. 

Virgin had been at London Gatwick Airport since 1984, it was the airport its first-ever flight took off from (remember its fun 25th anniversary TV ad with the big mobile phones and bigger hair?) Its HQ is even on Gatwick’s doorstep. So relocating flights to Heathrow after the pandemic meant a move away from the airline’s spiritual home.  However, London Heathrow is seen as a business-first airport. Virgin’s Orlando, Las Vegas and Caribbean island routes, which previously ran from Gatwick, are heavily leisure-orientated, so it makes no sense to continue operating them from a more expensive and normally more slot-constrained airport like Heathrow. A recent unpopular move by Heathrow to hike the fees it charges airlines makes Gatwick even more attractive.

Virgin has indicated that an LGW return is just a matter of time and economies of scale. The Times this month reported Virgin as saying: “We maintain our ambition to rebuild our presence at Gatwick as soon as demand returns.”  The airline claimed its US flights were 90% full, in the week immediately after the Biden administration eased curbs on UK citizens visiting the USA.

Spending your points 

Unlike BA, Virgin Atlantic does not guarantee a fixed number of reward seats per flight, where tickets can be purchased entirely with points, but its scheme is fairly flexible. If you are based in the south of England, you can now access the majority of the pre-pandemic Virgin destinations again, travelling from Heathrow, though the range of destination airports and frequency of departures are still impacted.

A winter return to South Africa has just been scuppered by its addition to the UK’s red list, due to a new covid variant. Flights to Havana that previously ran from Gatwick are still missing from Virgin’s schedule (until very recently Cuba required quarantine on arrival). But notably, The Bahamas has been introduced for this winter from Heathrow and a St Vincent service launched - the island’s first-ever direct flights from Europe. If Virgin returns to Gatwick these are just the sort of leisure-heavy services that would switch there.

If you’re itching to spend your Virgin Points you could also look to Heathrow-based partner airlines like Delta, Air France and KLM, but remember, since a generous move made last September, Virgin Atlantic reward flights can now count towards your tier status in the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club while those made with its partners will not.

We think the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a pretty generous scheme, especially since the moves on tier status and the extra chances to accrue Virgin Points. Flying Club members would certainly welcome a move back to Gatwick, as it would mark a return to form for Virgin and a wider choice of departures on which to redeem those loyalty points.

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