Virgin Atlantic has launched direct flights from Manchester to Las Vegas. The twice-weekly service will operate on Thursdays and Sundays, using a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, and the route will be carriers third from Manchester Airport.
Steve Ridgway, Chief Executive of Virgin Atlantic, commented: "We are delighted to be able to announce direct services from Manchester to Las Vegas. The decision to expand our Manchester flying programme underlines Virgin Atlantic's commitment to flying to long-haul destinations from regional airports in the UK and these Manchester flights will be a great addition to our current services."
Andrew Cornish, Managing Director of Manchester Airport, commented: "This is a welcome addition to their services to Barbados and Orlando and we're pleased to see another major airline expanding out of Manchester. Virgin are a key partner and for them to reaffirm their commitment in a testing marketplace is testament to the strength of the marketplace at Manchester. This is great news for our passengers and further strengthens the airport's long haul route network. We look forward to working with Virgin to make the service a great success."
Virgin Atlantic have also launched their first twin-engine Airbus A330 aircraft, called Beauty Queen.
The new aircraft took its inaugural flight from Manchester Airport to Orlando this month and features touch screen technology which allows passengers to scroll and swipe through over 300 hours of content quickly and easily. Later this year Virgin Atlantic travellers flying on the A330 will be able to send and receive emails and texts on their Blackberries, handheld PDAs and other mobile devices.
The new plane uses 15% less fuel per seat than the airline's A340-300 aircraft.
Two budget airlines have also announced changes to their service at Manchester Airport. easyJet will be launching flights to Berlin, Belfast and Madrid in the autumn, whilst Bmibaby have announced it is pulling out of Manchester Airport at the end of the summer.
In a statement released this week, the airline said "In the current economic climate it is essential for bmibaby to focus on airports where the airline already has a strong market presence and where there are strong growth opportunities for the bmibaby business.
"Therefore bmibaby has optimised their current flying programme and as a result of this bmibaby will cease operations from Cardiff Airport and from Manchester Airport at the end of the summer 2011 flying programme.
British Midland International (bmi) will continue to fly from Manchester Airport and recently announced a new service to Frankfurt, operated on behalf of Lufthansa, and a new service from Manchester to Basel in Switzerland.
