Virgin Atlantic announces return daily flights on London-Accra-London route

Virgin Atlantic Airlines has announced the resumption of daily flights services on the London (Heathrow)- Accra London Route. 

The airline in a statement on September 2, 2024, noted that it will commence services from May 1, 2025, on its Mix of Airbus A330 and A339.

Reasons for the re-launch

The statement explained that the re-launch is in response to increasing demands by travelers to visit friends and relatives in the UK. The company is also hoping to leverage on competition.

The Chief Commercial Officer of Virgin Atlantic Juha Jarvinen noted “The UK is home to the third largest Ghanaian diaspora in the world and we see huge opportunities to connect friends, relatives and businesses with our new service, as well as providing much needed competition and choice on the Accra to London route”.

The airline added that  it is hoping to use the re-launch to connect through London onto Virgin Atlantic’s US route network to destinations including New York, Boston, Washington DC, Miami and Los Angeles.

It added that “Accra is expected to be a strong cargo route and Virgin Atlantic will offer 30 tonnes of capacity on each flight, carrying goods such as fresh produce between Ghana and key markets in the UK and US”.

Background

Virgin Atlantic in September 2013 announced that it suspended its operations on the London- Accra -London Route after three years of service. According to the airline, the move was influenced by that the “exceptionally high price of fuel in Ghana”.

Virgin Atlantic also blamed the situation on wider economic environment and the ability to operate morning arrivals from Accra due to a scarcity of slots at London.

Virgin Atlantic launched flights to Ghana in May 2010 to compete with British Airways on the London Heathrow- Accra- London Route. It initially started with three flights per week and increased it to five in March 2012.