Virgin Atlantic pulls out north-of-England summer service, citing low demand

One of Barbados’ main airline partners out of the UK has announced it will be suspending its Manchester to Barbados flights for summer 2022, with more than six months to go before the summer period begins.

Virgin Atlantic said the summer service from the northern English city would be shelved, suggesting that the customer demand for the summer 2022 period was simply not there.

This comes months after the airline announced that it had increased the frequency of flights from the Manchester gateway to Barbados for the winter season due to start officially on December 15.

“It remains a dynamic time for international travel and we’re continually reviewing our flying and holiday schedules,” said a spokesperson for the airline, when Barbados TODAY reached out for a comment on the development.

“As we consider our longer-term flying programme, we’ve taken the decision to suspend our Manchester-Barbados flying during summer 2022, reflecting the focus of customer demand that we’re seeing for Barbados as a winter sun destination.”

Virgin Atlantic said it apologised for the inconvenience caused to affected customers due to travel next summer, adding that officials would be contacting them in the coming days with their options.

Those options will include converting their booking to a voucher, requesting a full refund, or rebooking for a new travel date, to another destination if they wished, all the way up until April 30 2023.

The Manchester to Barbados winter service is currently operating four times per week and will continue until the end of April.

Pointing to the current flights from Manchester to Bridgetown, the Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said this was helping the Manchester customers “enjoy an escape to the sun as travel restrictions ease further”.

“We remain committed to serving this Caribbean route from our home in the north and expect to resume flights in autumn 2022 after the summer pause,” said the Virgin representative.

“This week we restarted New York-JFK and Orlando services from Manchester, returning again to our US heartland with fully vaccinated international visitors, to be followed by Atlanta services from December 2. Barbados and Islamabad services are also in operation three times per week, as part a unique intercontinental network from Manchester.”
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb