Virgin Atlantic has recently announced that it would start flying domestically within the United Kingdom. The Huffington Post reported that the airline would start flying 23 domestic flights a day with its new routes from London Heathrow Airport to Aberdeed and Edinburgh as well as Manchester. A press release from the airline said that the new routes would begin in the Spring of 2013.
"We will look to replicate that in our short-haul program and challenge the current BA monopoly on these routes, which is causing serious consumer harm...Virgin Atlantic will offer millions of passengers in Scotland and Manchester connections around the world through our, and our partners', long-haul network, with the additional benefit of providing direct services to and from London Heathrow. This is a robust business model that will protect competition to and from Heathrow for the long-term," said the statement.
Bloomberg Business Week reported that the airline has plans on leasing four Airbus A 320 aircrafts from Aer Lingus for these short haul flights.
Virgin says the move is a response to British Airways takeover of BMI last year.
Virgin Chief Executive Steve Ridgeway said according to The Daily Mail, "Since bmi was swallowed up by BA, the competition that existed on domestic routes and European routes has disappeared.
This is part of the process of making sure that BA doesn't become a monopolist on all the routes bmi used to fly.'
The Telegraph reported that tickets go on sale on Dec. 19 with prices starting at £99 return. The Telegraph reported that an estimated 150 jobs will be created for Virgin's domestic endeavors.
Manchester Airport Group chief commercial officer Ken O'Toole said according to The Daily Mail,
"We are pleased to see Virgin Atlantic increasing their presence in Manchester and to see competition returning on the London route, as that will be to the benefit of passengers flying from our airport."
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