Virgin Atlantic Launches London–Toronto Route

Virgin Atlantic has announced the debut of a new non-stop route from London Heathrow (LHR) to Toronto Pearson (YYZ). The service is set to begin on March 30, 2025, marking the carrier’s return to Canada after nearly a decade.

As part of the announcement, Virgin Atlantic also revealed an expanded codeshare partnership with WestJet, which begin to take effect as of October 2024.

Virgin Atlantic Launches London–Toronto Route

Virgin Atlantic has announced the upcoming launch of a new route that will connect London Heathrow (LHR) and Toronto Pearson (YYZ).

While the official schedule will be announced on June 19, 2024, Virgin Atlantic expects the new route to operate daily as of March 30, 2025. Tickets will begin at £490 ($858 CAD) per person.

Virgin Atlantic last flew to Canada in October 2014 with a route to Vancouver, according to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company.

The London-based carrier plans to operate a mix of aircraft on the route, including the Airbus A330-900neo – the latest addition to Virgin Atlantic’s fleet.

Furthermore, Virgin Atlantic and WestJet have announced an expanded codeshare partnership, slated to take effect in October 2024 and expand throughout 2025.

Aside from offering Virgin Atlantic passengers additional connectivity to WestJet’s network, as well as providing WestJet passengers access to Virgin Atlantic’s network across India, Africa, and the Middle East, it’s expected that reciprocal frequent flyer benefits will take effect at some point in 2025.

This means that it will eventually be possible to redeem WestJet dollars for Virgin Atlantic flights, and to redeem Virgin Points for WestJet flights. It’s expected that further details about the frequent flyer benefits will be announced at a later date.

WestJet and Virgin Atlantic Target Indian Passengers

As part of the announcement, Virgin Atlantic noted that the new flight to Toronto will provide “optimal connectivity” for Indian passengers departing from Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai via London.

On its website, WestJet outlines that it will provide its passengers one-stop connections on a single ticket to destinations never offered before, including Virgin Atlantic’s destinations in the Middle East, India, and Africa.

As it stands,…