British carrier Virgin Atlantic has scaled back flights on a number of its key US routes this winter season. According to the latest scheduling data from aviation analytics company Cirium, the most significant cutbacks will be on its services from London Heathrow to Orlando, San Francisco and Washington D.C, although these routes will remain at the same frequencies as the 2024/25 winter season.

Earlier this year, Virgin had warned of a slowdown in US transatlantic travel demand, despite launching two new North American connections in Cancun and Toronto. The airline had a stellar 2024 with its first profitable year since 2016, although it remains saddled with over $1 billion in debt accrued over the pandemic.

Virgin Atlantic Winter Schedule Cutbacks

Looking at data from Cirium between November 2025 and March 2026, the airline’s biggest reduction will be on its London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) route, which will see frequencies halved in November before dropping from ten to seven weekly flights for the remainder of the winter season. Despite reports earlier this year suggesting that VS was considering two peak daily SFO flights, it has instead gone the opposite way.

The carrier will also scale back flights from Heathrow to Orlando International Airport (MCO) starting in December, dropping from ten to seven weekly flights. Additionally, its daily connection between Heathrow and Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) will see one or two weekly flights dropped between January and March.

Virgin’s frequencies on these routes will be equal to the previous 2024/25 winter season. Simple Flying reached out to Virgin Atlantic for comment and received the following response,

“Orlando and San Francisco will remain the same capacity as winter 2024 / 2025, with Orlando operating 10 flights per week during November, before reducing to seven flights a week for the rest of the winter season. San Francisco will also operate at seven flights per week for both the winter 2024 / 2025 and winter 2025 / 2026 seasons. Our flights to Washington will also remain at the same capacity with six flights scheduled per week.”

Is Transatlantic Demand On The Way Down?

Earlier this year, Virgin indicated it had “started to see some signals that US demand has been slowing,” prompting its decision to cut flights on its US network. Virgin had already scaled back a few of its US routes as revealed back in April, most notably removing a daily frequency to JFK and going from seven to four weekly flights to Seattle-Tacoma (SEA).

Other major European carriers have also seen a dip in demand, particularly during this summer period. Both Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have experienced this, as has IAG – the parent group of British Airways and Aer Lingus, among others – which are heavily reliant on the lucrative transatlantic market.

Much of the decline in demand has been attributed to the weakening of the US economy, which is being felt most strongly in the premium market. With Donald Trump returning to the Presidency in January, growing diplomatic tensions and stricter border checks have also led to more uncertainty.

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Despite assumptions, the transatlantic market, for the time being, remains strong, according to multiple airline executives’ remarks.

Over Four Decades Of US Service

Virgin Atlantic has been flying to the United States for over 41 years since its inaugural service – a 747-200-operated route from London Gatwick to Newark Liberty – launched in the summer of 1984. It now flies to almost a dozen US destinations, with the majority of its flights originating from its London Heathrow base.

Virgin is considered one of the ‘Big Five’ transatlantic airlines (along with British Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines) and operates the second-most flights across the pond behind BA.

Virgin also recently launched flights to Toronto Pearson (YYZ), operating a daily frequency this summer before dropping to four weekly flights over the winter. This is the only Canadian destination in the VS network, with passengers able to benefit from its codeshare agreement with WestJet.

Year Founded

1984

CEO

Shai Weiss