Travel news, reviews and intel for high-flyers

Virgin Atlantic and Delta Join up for flights to Boston and New York from London Gatwick

New partnership service to start in summer 2020

Virgin Atlantic and Delta announced a partnership this week that can do much to grow the transatlantic market bwtween London Gatwick with Boston Logan and New York JFK.

With the introduction of two new East Coast services starting in summer 2020, the airline brand partnership will be able to offer up to 18 daily flights between the UK and Boston and JFK.  

The Boston and New York flights will operate from the North terminal at Gatwick, where Virgin Atlantic recently unveiled a brand new check in area, and luxurious Clubhouse and V-Room.

The East Coast flights will complement Virgin Atlantic’s existing network from London Gatwick to Florida and the Caribbean, where they currently operate up to 33 flights per week to eight destinations.

The new flights bring Delta’s return to London Gatwick for the first time in eight years. The airport was the destination for Delta’s first transatlantic flight more than 40 years ago, when services began from Atlanta.

“We’re expanding at London Gatwick, with the addition of new routes to New York-JFK and Boston operated in partnership with Delta,” said Juha Jarvinen, Executive Vice President Commercial for Virgin Atlantic. “The new routes to New York and Boston will go on sale later this year and will complement the wide range of Caribbean and Florida flights already offered at London-Gatwick.”

Virgin Atlantic also recently announced two new routes from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv, Israel and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Flights to Tel Aviv launch on 25th September 2019, and flights to Sao Paulo are set to launch in 2020.

Delta recently announced plans to enhance its aircraft on all flights between London-Heathrow and both Boston and JFK. Beginning this week, Delta flights between Boston and London-Heathrow will operate on an Airbus A330-200, which already serves Delta’s JFK-Heathrow flights and features additional premium seats.

“We are able to connect Boston and New York to the world through an unmatched global network paired with an enhanced customer experience both in the air and on the ground,” said Roberto Ioriatti, Delta’s Vice President Transatlantic.

A full schedule and fare information for the new routes will be announced later this year.

Gatwick’s popularity as a convenient alternative for flights from New York and Boston to London has only been growing. Norwegian currently offers flights from Gatwick to both Boston and JFK, while British Airways serves the Gatwick-JFK route. US low-cost carrier Jetblue has also been considering plans to launch flights to London.