Virgin Atlantic has announced the addition of cargo only services to Frankfurt from its London Heathrow hub.

From April 25, the airline will fly twice a week before increasing to three times a week from 1st May. This is the first time that the airline has offered direct flight services to and from Frankfurt and with seamless connections via Heathrow, the service will offer same day connections to and from the US.

The service will operate on the airline’s Boeing 787 aircraft which will offer up to 35 tonnes of cargo capacity. The route expects to carry a variety of cargo goods, including machinery parts, healthcare products, chemicals and motor vehicle parts. Cargo capacity on the new Virgin Atlantic service will be marketed by Kales Aviation, the airline’s general sales agency in Germany, while Swissport has been awarded the cargo handling contract for export and import shipments.

Dominic Kennedy, managing director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, said: “Virgin Atlantic’s cargo operation continues to grow at pace, and we very much look forward to growing our working relationships with customers in Europe following this latest route launch. We’ve chosen Frankfurt as our latest cargo only service as demand remains healthy and the profile of the business fits so well with our UK and US network. We’re grateful for the support of our customers for our cargo-only scheduled services and charters, and we are excited about the new opportunities Frankfurt presents for our network.”