Virgin Atlantic to roll out increasing number of Premium and Upper Class seats

Virgin Atlantic is rolling out an increasing number of Premium and Upper Class seats over the next five years as it homes in on a growing demand for premium leisure travel.

 

Speaking ahead of the airline’s inaugural flight to Cancun from Heathrow, chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinen told Travel Weekly agents will be able to sell more seats in the higher-yield segment.

 

He said the carrier will see a 30% increase in the number of seats across Premium and Upper Class cabins between now and 2030 as part of a retrofit of its 787 aircraft and delivery of 11 Airbus 339s.

 

“Because of that shift, we will increasingly focus on the premium leisure segment,” said Jarvinen. “That automatically means we will be increasingly focused on customer segments keen to fly in Premium and Upper.”

 

He added: “A big part of the UK travel trade is focusing increasingly on this segment, especially since the pandemic. We’ve seen people are willing to save in other areas so that they have enough disposable income to treat themselves when they go on holiday.

 

“And the way we price our tickets you can combine as well – so you can fly one way in Economy and fly back in Premium or Upper. The key is the flexibility.”

 

Virgin Atlantic relaunched non-stop flights to Cancun on October 19, with three services a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. It is the only direct route from Heathrow to Cancun. When the airline last served Cancun, in 2019, it operated from Gatwick.

 

Jarvinen said the relaunch of direct Cancun flights fitted with the move towards serving the premium leisure segment, with a number of high-end hotels opening in the region in recent years, including Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

 

He said that Mexico had “re-emerged” from the pandemic as an “exciting destination”, in part because it had stayed open for longer periods while other countries were locked down. “That’s why we believe it’s the right time to go back,” he said.

 

As well as the beaches of Cancun, the area offers access to Mayan ruins with daytrips available to the parks of Xcaret and Xel-Há as well as Chichen Itza – a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the seven wonders of the world.

 

“Mexico, as such a diverse destination, offers a lot of options to build different types of packages for our travel trade partners,” said Jarvinen.

 

The route is part of a joint venture with Delta and Air France KLM, which wasn’t the case when Virgin previously operated to Cancun from Gatwick.

 

The route will primarily serve point-to-point travellers but also opens up connections to the rest of Mexico and South America through SkyTeam partner Aeromexico and a codeshare with Latam.

 

Jarvinen said this will help increase load factors, which he hopes to be above an 80% target, although he accepts loads can be “a bit lighter” in the first season after launch. He anticipates similar booking patterns to the Caribbean, which has seen a surge in late bookings in recent years.

 

The “flexibility” of the route, and its “combinability”, allows agents to create bespoke multi-destination trips for their customers, using a combination of Virgin’s direct Cancun route and domestic flights with Aeromexico or connections to the US via Delta.

 

“Cancun is not just that classic seven-day or 10-day holiday,” he said. “You can mix it with the US or combine it with Mexico City or the Pacific side of Mexico.”

 

While he did not rule out more Virgin routes from Heathrow to other Mexican destinations in the future, Jarvinen said Cancun is “the right place to start” with its “diverse” offering.

 

He reiterated Virgin’s commitment to the ‘omni-channel’ distribution approach, with a mix of sales through direct channels and the trade, as well as its direct-sell holidays brand Virgin Holidays.

 

“Where many other airlines have pushed direct distribution, we are very firmly of the belief that we should be active in the travel trade,” he said.

 

The company has seen a recent reshuffle at the top with Corneel Koster stepping up to the role of chief executive after the departure of Shai Weiss.

 

Jarvinen said the chief executive transition had been “smooth” because “Corneel knows everyone at Virgin Atlantic, and everyone at Virgin Atlantic knows Corneel.”

 

Asked if more changes were in the pipeline, given the recent departure of vice-president of global sales, Luke Goggin, he added: “Sometimes when there’s change in leadership there are changes in other roles as well, but currently we have nothing to make public.”

 

Return Economy fares start from £562pp.