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Virgin Atlantic announced today that it’s adding nonstop service from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN). Flights will begin in March 2026 thanks to slots acquired in London after the merger of Korean Air and Asiana.
The daily flights start on March 29th and will use Boeing 787-9 aircraft. These offer 31 Upper Class (Business Class), 35 Premium Economy, and 192 Economy Class seats. This is one of several international announcements that Virgin has made recently including more flights to the Maldives and service to Riyadh.
In 2023, while the merger of Korean Air and Asiana was being evaluated by government agencies around the world, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority cited concerns around Korean Air and Asiana operating the only flights between the UK and South Korea. This was remedied by Korean Air granting seven weekly London Heathrow Airport (LHR) slots to Virgin Atlantic for the flights to/from Seoul.
Virgin Atlantic and Korean Air are both members of SkyTeam and have had a codeshare agreement since March 2023. This has allowed for seamless onward connections in the UK, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. Virgin needs to maintain its Seoul route for three years and then gets to keep the slots for whatever flights it chooses. We’ll see if this route survives past this expiration date. Even with this route added, the closeness of the two airlines (and their alliance) doesn’t seem like it will give passengers the choice that it was supposed to grant. Delta also has to be quite pleased as it owns 49% of Virgin, also has codeshares with Korean Air, and is a member of SkyTeam (so, some of the revenue earned will trickle back to Delta in the end).
Anthony’s Take: This new route is a clever, roundabout way for Virgin to get more gates at the heavily controlled London Heathrow Airport (LHR). Kudos to them for pulling it off.
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
