For the first time since 2013, Virgin Atlantic will return to Ghana. This is as the airline announced new additions to its network for summer 2025.
Flying from London Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic has added two new destinations of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Accra, Ghana. The airline has also announced plans to return to Toronto, Canada, its first Canadian route in a decade
The airline has noted that it will resume daily flights to Kotoka International Airport in the nation’s capital, Accra, from May 2025. The airline will provide much needed competition on the route, which currently lacks a choice of routes between the two countries.
The UK is home to the third largest Ghanaian diaspora in the world and the new service will respond to demand to visit friends and relatives. Around 10% of customers are also expected to connect through London onto Virgin Atlantic’s New York JFK service.
Launching on 1 May 2025, the daily service will operate on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft boasting the airline’s Upper Class, Premium and Economy Delight, Classic and Light cabins, as well as an onboard bar. Accra is expected to be a very strong cargo route and Virgin Atlantic will offer 30 tonnes of capacity on each flight carrying goods, such as fresh produce, between Ghana and key markets in the UK and US.
For the first time, the airline will launch a daily service to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The service aims to participate in the growth expected from Saudi Vision 2030. In 2023, annual trade between the UK and Saudi Arabia was worth £17.1 billion with an ambition to reach £30 billion of trade by 2030. Accordingly, air travel between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia is forecast to grow 24% between 2019-2035.
Alongside business travellers, the route will serve the ‘visiting friends and relatives’ (VFR) market, which has seen a fivefold increase in Saudis living in the UK between 2000 and 2018.
Flights to Riyadh will operate daily on the airline’s state of the art A330neo, the newest aircraft in Virgin Atlantic’s fleet, with the first flight departing London Heathrow on 30 March 2025. Virgin Atlantic will offer 30 tonnes of cargo capacity on each flight for companies looking to export and import goods, such as fresh produce and specialised goods, including pharmaceuticals, between Riyadh and prime markets in the UK and US.
Virgin Atlantic recently announced expansion in North America, with its return to Canada. The airline’s first route to the country in more than a decade will commence on 30th March 2025, with direct flights between London Heathrow and Toronto Pearson International Airport, marking the airline’s expansion in North America and into Canada’s financial hub. The new service will operate on a mix of aircraft including the A330neo, providing optimal connectivity for customers traveling to India via London, from newly launched destination Bengaluru, alongside Mumbai and Delhi, which both operate twice daily. The Toronto route is operated as part of our joint venture with Air France, Delta and KLM, and in partnership with Canadian airline, Westjet.
