Virgin Atlantic announces return of weekly direct flights to Orlando Florida from Edinburgh Airport

Virgin Atlantic has confirmed the return of direct flights to Orlando Florida from Edinburgh Airport.

Edinburgh Airport has announced that Virgin Atlantic has officially resumed its direct flights to Orlando, Florida. The welcome news means that the air travel company will return two flights per week over to the states, giving thousands the opportunity to visit Disney World.

This happy news comes after Virgin announced mass cancellations for its Spring 2023 flights, which left many holidaymakers with scuppered plans. The flights were originally scheduled to return on April 1, but Virgin was forced to make adjustments as they struggled to keep up with demand following the huge influx of travellers after the pandemic.

At the time of the cancellations a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “As customer demand continues to return strongly after the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re making adjustments to upcoming flying schedules to support the ramp up of our operation and to reflect changes in customer demand outlook.

“As a result, during the Summer 2023 season, we’ve implemented some changes to service frequencies and aircraft types and unfortunately made some advance cancellations on certain routes, including Manchester – Atlanta and Edinburgh – Orlando during the Spring and Belfast - Orlando next summer. Our London Heathrow – Shanghai services are also now set to resume on the slightly later date of 1^st May 2023, restarting an important link between the UK and China.”

The spokesperson added that as part of the changes, the company had also taken the commercial decision to end its Heathrow to Tobago flights from January 11, 2023. “We’d like to sincerely thank our partners in Trinidad and Tobago for all their support over the years,” they went on. “This beautiful destination will always hold a very special place in our hearts.

“We have a commitment to fly the routes where our customers most want to travel and responding to continued demand for our US heartland, we will be introducing three additional Miami services per week, with New York-JFK frequencies also increased to six times per day. Summer services from Heathrow to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad will operate three times a week and Lahore, four times and our popular Austin route, which launched in May 2022, will increase to daily flying in peak months.

Virgin Atlantic passenger aircraft at Heathrow Airport. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)

“We’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and ask customers not to call our contact centre but reassure affected customers that they will be contacted in the coming days with their options. Where a flight is cancelled, customers have the choice to request a voucher or full refund. If re-routing is a suitable and available option, we can also rebook customers on alternative services. Those who booked via a third party such as a travel agent should contact them directly for their options.”