Virgin Atlantic will resurrect its cargo-focused flights between Heathrow and Brussels, this time utilising passenger aircraft to carry cargo.
Today, the UK carrier announced the addition of daily flights to Brussels using its Airbus A330-300 and Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.
The flights will start on October 27 and run until March 29. Cargo will be carried in the belly of the aircraft, which will offer up to 50 tonnes of capacity per flight.
The airline said that the flights will transport time-critical goods such as perishables and pharmaceuticals which today are transported from Heathrow Airport to European hubs by truck services.
In 2021/2022, the carrier had offered the same flights in partnership with Titan Airways using one of its Airbus A321 freighters. Before the partnership with Titan, the flights were operated as cargo-only passenger flights. They were initially launched in response to border hold ups caused by Covid/Brexit.
Juha Jarvinen, chief commercial officer, said: “During the winter period, we will operate services to Brussels, a destination we are familiar with having flown there successfully during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This new service will transport a range of goods including perishables and pharmaceuticals, offering fast connections for our customers between Brussels and the wider European region and Virgin Atlantic’s extensive route network via London Heathrow.”
After the freighter service ended in 2022, Phil Wardlow, the then Virgin Atlantic Cargo managing director, indicated that the operation had proved popular with customers but it would be difficult to continue the service as a freighter operation.
Speaking to Air Cargo News in 2023, he said: “At the moment, the economics of wet leasing the aircraft directly ourselves and running those lanes doesn’t add up.
“I think we’d have to see some of those economic conditions return which saw us use freighters in the first place. So I think it’s highly unlikely. Our core model is passenger belly capacity.”
He added: “I think there’s still an opportunity on some of those lanes in Europe. There’s definitely still demand. And some of our customers still talk to us around that ability, whether it’s Brussels, Frankfurt, or Amsterdam.”
Virgin Atlantic Cargo is “highly unlikely” to operate freighters again in current market
