Virgin Atlantic announces plan to restart passenger flights

Virgin Atlantic has announced it will restart passenger flights in July.

The first flights to take off with passengers on board will be services from London Heathrow to Orlando, Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and Los Angeles on July 20th and 21st, 2020.

Virgin Atlantic’s number one priority is the safety of their people and customers. They’re introducing additional measures to offer peace of mind in the airport and when taking to the skies. These include thorough cleaning practices at check-in, boarding gates and onboard. Social distancing will be followed wherever possible, particularly at check-in and boarding – and where it’s not possible, masks will be worn.

All customers will receive a personal Health Pack, which contains a medical-grade face mask to be worn on board, surface wipes and hand gel. They will also simplify their hot food offering onboard to minimise contact between customers and crew.

Virgin Atlantic has been working closely with the UK and international health and aviation authorities to make sure they follow safety guidelines. The airline will carry out health questionnaires before check in and are calling on airport and health authorities to introduce temperature checks for passengers.

Essential cargo

As well as restarting passenger flights, Virgin Atlantic continues to operate cargo-only flights. These are keeping global supply chains running and transporting essential supplies around the world. Throughout June, the airline plans to operate more than 600 cargo-only services, serving destinations including Tel Aviv, Chicago, Brussels, Johannesburg, Lagos and Miami.

Virgin Atlantic will also continue to work with the Department for Health and the NHS to operate 17 cargo charter flights a week during June and July. These will fly in essential medical supplies from Shanghai and Beijing. So far, Virgin Atlantic has carried over 44 million items of PPE from China to the UK.