Latest news

We are excited to let you know that our flights between São Paulo and London Heathrow are set to go on sale from 6 September.  Our new route will fly daily from 13 May 2024 and the 11 hr and 55 min flight will operate on a Boeing 787 aircraft. This is our first-ever route to the South American continent.  

One of the most populous cities in the world, São Paulo is home to multinational businesses, providing corporate customers and business travellers the opportunity to fly in Virgin Atlantic style. The city is famed as the foodie capital of Brazil, a bustling city offering a bounty of arts and cultural experiences, which will enthral experience hungry leisure travellers.  

São Paulo is considered the gateway to South America and is a key hub in Brazil for Virgin Atlantic’s codeshare partner and South America’s largest airline, LATAM. The partnership provides customers with onward connections to over 50 destinations in South America, including Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Florianopolis as well as offering loyalty accruals and the recently launched redemption options for Flying Club members. Virgin Atlantic’s SkyTeam alliance partner, Aerolineas Argentinas, provides seamless connections from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires where our Flying Club passengers can also earn and redeem their points. Additionally, Virgin Atlantic customers will be able to travel extensively throughout Brazil connecting onward with GOL and Azul. 

Customers travelling from São Paulo to London Heathrow will have the option to smoothly connect onto Virgin Atlantic’s rest of world destinations through Terminal 3 – home of the airline’s award-winning Clubhouse -– including Tel Aviv, Delhi, Mumbai and Shanghai. 
 

We are looking forward to welcoming our mutual customers on board soon. 

This month we welcome Luke Goggin, our new Vice President of Sales.

Luke joins us after an 11 year career at British Airways where most recently he was the Head of UK and Ireland Sales and Global Accounts.

Please join us in wishing Luke much success in his role here at Virgin Atlantic.

We’re excited that along with Rolls-Royce we have announced the successful Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blend ground test on the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine.

The test marks a key milestone in the project which will see the world’s first 100% SAF flight travel across the Atlantic from London Heathrow to New York JFK on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, set to take off on 28 November 2023.

In addition to the test, fuel suppliers Air bp and Virent have been announced to supply the 60 tonnes of SAF to be used in the world first, supporting consortium research, testing and the flight itself. The SAF will be produced through the Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathway as well as synthetic aromatic kerosene (SAK) SAF at an 88% and 12% blend ratio.

We are committed to finding more sustainable ways to fly on our mission to Net Zero 2050. Already operating one of the most fuel and carbon efficient fleets across the Atlantic, this flight builds on our 15-year track record for leading on SAF.   Demonstrating that through radical collaboration, the industry can deliver 100% SAF in today’s engine, airframes and fuel infrastructure for long haul flights.

We'll keep you updated on this exciting project that is not only making history, but is a huge step towards net zero and showcasing the potential of SAF - creating jobs and helping to grow our economy.