Virgin Atlantic Cargo is to re-start daily flights on 27 April, 2016 to and from Chicago, as part of its strategy targeting the US Midwest.
The carrier says it gives cargo customers doing business in the “buoyant” US Midwest market an even wider choice of services with the flight from Heathrow Airport to Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
The airline already offers customers a year-round service to the region through its daily flights linking London and Detroit.
The addition of Airbus A330-300 services excluding Chicago will boost its capacity offering by a further 16 tonnes a day and help customers in the US achieve fast connections with the UK and Europe as well as prime markets such as India and South Africa.
Virgin Atlantic Cargo senior vice president, John Lloyd says: “We are pleased to welcome back our very popular Chicago route and with the addition of Detroit last year, has enabled us to strengthen our year-round presence in the US, Midwest, where are have very strong support from our customers on both sides of the Atlantic.
“From the UK, even before the start of our summer season services to Chicago, we have commitments for more than 50 per cent of our capacity. Typical cargoes ex UK will be wide ranging, such as fresh fish, flowers and perishables as well as mail.
“For customers in the US the early morning arrival of our Detroit and Chicago services into London means we can help them to quickly connect to markets across Europe and to other online destinations such as Johannesburg and Delhi.”
Virgin Atlantic Cargo offers direct services to and from 12 US destinations; Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington and has a 27 per cent capacity share across the Atlantic.
It is also responsible for selling Virgin Australia’s international long-haul services from Sydney and Brisbane into Los Angeles, which connect with Virgin Atlantic’s global network.
