Virgin Atlantic launches Manchester-Las Vegas flights

Virgin Atlantic has started operating its new route from Manchester to Las Vegas as well as confirming its resumption of flights to Israel later this year.

The new Manchester-Vegas service operates three times per week using Airbus A350-1000 aircraft fitted with economy, premium economy and Upper Class cabins.

The route complements Virgin’s existing daily London Heathrow-Las Vegas service and increases the number of US routes it serves from Manchester to four. The carrier already flies from Manchester to Orlando, New York and Atlanta.

In a separate move, Virgin has announced that it will resume daily Heathrow to Tel Aviv flights on 5 September – nearly a year after the route was suspended in October 2023 when war broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinian group Hamas.

The airline has also signed a new codeshare partnership with Israeli carrier El Al, which will eventually encompass up to four daily flights between London and Tel Aviv. This agreement will initially apply to El Al’s flights from 10 June and then to Virgin’s resumed services to Israel from September.

Other developments include Virgin working towards new commercial partnerships with SAS Scandinavian Airlines, which will take effect when SAS formally joins the SkyTeam alliance on 1 September.

Virgin has also announced a new codeshare with another SkyTeam member Saudia. This deal is already live and allows Virgin passengers travelling from the US to connect through Heathrow and Manchester on to Saudia’s services to Jeddah and Riyadh.