Hey y'all, saddle up! Virgin Atlantic is launching new direct services to Austin, the capital of the Lonestar state of Texas and the airline’s first new route to the US since 2015.

The four times a week service will launch on 25th May 2022 and will operate on the airline’s 787-9 aircraft boasting 31 Upper Class, 35 Premium and 192 Economy Delight, Classic and Light seats.

Austin is the fourth most populated city in the state, with 29 million residents and 7.7million passengers travelling through the airport in 2019. The city is known as the “live music capital of the world” and is famed for its art and foodie scene as well as a wide range of outdoors activities. To capitalise on the increased leisure tourism to the region, Virgin Atlantic Holidays will be launching a holiday portfolio in Austin and throughout Texas including hotels and fly drive holidays.

Austin is also known as a growing tech hub with businesses such as Apple, Tesla, Facebook, IBM and Oracle all opening up bases, giving the city the nickname “Silicon Hills”.  This booming region is a key focus for Virgin Atlantic and its expanded joint venture partners, with Delta Air Lines offering connections from Austin to 10 US cities, Seattle, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Raleigh Durham, JFK. KLM also looks forward to launching three-times weekly services from Amsterdam to Austin on 28th March 2022 offering even more choice for customers both side of the Atlantic to connect between the US and Europe.

As well as flying customers, Virgin Atlantic will offer 20 tonnes of cargo capacity on each flight. This fast cargo service will offer new opportunities for companies looking to export and import goods such as high-tech products and e-commerce between prime markets in the UK and US.

Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic commented: “We are incredibly excited to launch this new service to Austin, Texas. With an impressive food, arts and music scene, we know it’s a destination our customers will love to explore.

“The US has been our heartland for more than 37 years since our first flight to New York City in 1984. Since US borders opened to UK travellers on 8 November, it feels extra special to be launching new flying, especially to the fantastic city of Austin.

“There are so many synergies between Virgin Atlantic and the city of Austin. We love their philosophy and desire to celebrate local brands, businesses and communities and we cannot wait to welcome customers, both existing and new onboard, flying them safely to explore this fabulously quirky city.”

Jacqueline Yaft , CEO, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport commented: “We are thrilled to welcome Virgin Atlantic to Austin and Central Texas. This exciting new partnership helps meet our goals of continued recovery from the impacts of the pandemic and furthers our commitment to being the Gateway of Central Texas for both leisure and business travelers alike.”

As Virgin Atlantic recovers from the pandemic, the airline continues to work towards its vision of becoming the most loved travel company. With new Caribbean services to St Vincent and the Grenadines, Bahamas and St Lucia as well as new flying from Edinburgh to Barbados launching tin 2021, the airline is focussed on serving the destinations we know our customers love to visit. Later this year, Virgin Atlantic will be the first UK airline to receive the A330neo aircraft which not only boasts a step change to its Upper Class Suite and social space for customers but will help transform the fleet into one of the quietest and most fuel efficient in the sky.

Flights are on sale from Monday 10th January at www.virginatlantic.com with return Economy fares starting from £409 per person.

Enhanced flexible booking policy on all new bookings

To help customers book with confidence, Virgin Atlantic has extended its policy of unlimited free date and flight changes for new bookings, giving further flexibility to customers to support future travel plans.  The updated flexible booking policy enables Virgin Atlantic customers making a new holiday or flight-only booking for travel up to 31 December 2022, to make as many changes as necessary to their travel dates, origin or destination, with the change fees waived**, as well as one free name change.

In addition, the rebooking horizon, the date by which rescheduled travel can be completed by, has been extended by eight months for all new and existing bookings – all the way until 31 December 2023 – giving a broader window of time to reschedule plans if needed.

The improved flexible policy also applies to customers who already have converted their booking to a voucher or hold an open ticket and will benefit customers if their flight or holiday is subject to cancellation, in addition to their refund and voucher options.

Route facts

For further press information please contact the Virgin Atlantic press office on press.office@fly.virgin.com or call 01293 747373.