Another global airline cuts US flights due to low demand
Between the jet fuel price spike and the current anti-immigration politics of the Trump administration, travel to the U.S. has been in a continued slump even during major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup. Airlines, in turn, have had to significantly rework their networks to run only the ...
Overview
Between the jet fuel price spike and the current anti-immigration politics of the Trump administration, travel to the U.S. has been in a continued slump even during major sporting events like the FIFA World Cup.
Airlines, in turn, have had to significantly rework their networks to run only the flights bringing in the largest numbers of passengers and ruthlessly cut any unprofitable routes.
Air Canada has recently confirmed another round of cuts to cities such as New York, Detroit and Orlando from Toronto and Montréal while Air France and Lufthansa also cut certain U.S.-bound routes this year.
Virgin Atlantic cuts flights to four U.S. cities for the fall of 2026
After scrapping initial plans to restart a route to Seattle from London Heathrow in October 2027 last May, British carrier Virgin Atlantic just confirmed a much larger round of flight reductions to cities such as Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Las Vegas from London Heathrow (LHR).
As first reported by aviation outlet Simple Flying, the London-based airline will not cancel any of these routes but significantly bring down their frequencies in September and October 2026. The flight to Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) will be brought down to run daily from 10 times a week.
Related: Airline shuts down, all flights grounded after accident
The route to Miami International (MIA) will run just once a day instead of twice a day while the flight to Boston Logan (BOS) will be switched to run on a single Airbus A350-1000 plane instead of one A330-900 and one Boeing B787-9 twice a day.
Details
The Boston flight is also run by Delta Air Lines which presumably also helped contribute to an oversaturated market for Virgin.
The airline has not provided comment on the current round of flight cuts but previously called its decision to not restart the London-Seattle route a part of "changes to our winter 2026 flying program" that it was making "due to evolving customer demand."
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What is behind the Virgin Atlantic flight cuts to US cities
Following the cuts, Virgin will fly to 11 U.S. cities for a total of 19 daily departures in September and October while frequencies beyond that are usually evaluated during the summer months. The total round of cuts brings down the total seats that Virgin flies to the U.S. from London Heathrow (LHR) by 14%.
Along with the axed U.S. routes, the carrier is making significant cuts between London and Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) in Bengaluru in southern India. This route serving both tourists and members of the Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom will be nearly halved from 13 flights a week to just one daily.
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On July 13, a Virgin Atlantic flight headed to Orlando from London spent just over two hours in the air before turning around and heading back over a minor technical issue that required the turnaround as a safety precaution.
The "flight to nowhere" was subsequently canceled upon return to London while the passengers on it either assigned to routes to Orlando through a connection or placed on the direct flight to Orlando the following day.
Related: Low-cost airline launches easier way for Americans to reach Brazil
Source
Originally published at www.thestreet.com.
