UK carrier Virgin Atlantic is to launch its first flights to Saudi Arabia next summer by beginning services to Riyadh, while also serving Accra in Ghana for the first time in over a decade.
Virgin will serve London Heathrow-Riyadh daily from 30 March using Airbus A330-900s, a service that will connect with its SkyTeam partner Saudia.
Virgin Atlantic chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinan says: ”We’re delighted to build on our codeshare with SkyTeam partner Saudia, further strengthening connectivity in the region.”
The airline will then in May 2025 begin daily flights from Heathrow to Accra using Boeing 787s. Virgin previously served the Ghanaian capital between 2010 and 2013. The airline notes the UK is home to the third largest Ghanaian diaspora in the world while also expecting around 10% of passengers to connect through London onto Virgin Atlantic’s New York JFK service.
Virgin has previously disclosed plans to return to Canada after more than a decade next summer with a new Toronto route, while also ending its long-standing Shanghai service this winter amid continuing operational challenges from not being able to overfly Russia.
