Virgin Atlantic Ending Tel Aviv Flights For Good
- Konrad Tillman
- 10 hours ago
- 2 min read
Intro
Throughout the past while, we have seen flat-out war in the Middle East (which I will not be discussing (anti-political blog)), and it has forced airlines to temporarily suspend service to Tel Aviv, which is a high-yield market when operating. Well, Virgin Atlantic has decided to completely terminate this going forward...
The Details
Earlier today, Virgin Atlantic announced that it wouldn't be bringing back the London Heathrow to Tel Aviv daily flights which were suspended in October 2023. Originally, the service began in late 2019 with a once-daily flight, and it seemed to be so well that they later upgraded it to twice-daily flights.
Well, so why might Virgin Atlantic be ending these flights for good? It seems that there are a couple of different reasons on the table...
Back in late 2023, Delta announced a partnership with El Al, meaning that these routes just aren't as important anymore to the VS/DL partnership. For reference, El Al operates twice daily flights between the two cities at the moment.
Virgin Atlantic believes it can make more money utilizing these jets elsewhere. This was the shortest route that VS operates on a routine basis.
It's a tough market to operate in with the ongoing conflict...
Tel Aviv Is A Tough Market
After checking out some numbers online, you can clearly see that Tel Aviv is a profitable market to serve when things are going well. Supposedly, one of the most profitable routes in the United network is to Tel Aviv, and BA seems to do well as well.
However, it's also a tough market to serve with the ongoing war, so I understand why VS is pulling this route in favour of sending aircraft elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
Virgin Atlantic has decided to permanently end flights to Tel Aviv going forwards. Due to a variety of factors and a compeitive market to the UK, this makes a lot of sense and I am excited to see if we might see a few new routes open up. Heck, the airline just announced flights to Seoul which is exciting!
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