Virgin Atlantic boosts summer 2009 capacity from Manchester

Virgin Atlantic, one of the world's leading long-haul airlines, has announced it would be expanding its popular services from Manchester to Barbados and Orlando. The airline is also adding more services from Gatwick to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Virgin Atlantic will add additional Saturday flights from Manchester to Barbados between 2 May and 7 November 2009, to add to its existing Sunday departures to the Caribbean island. The flights will be on an Airbus A340-300.

There will also be extra seats available between Manchester and Orlando with an additional Sunday departure between 26 April and 8 November 2009, using a Boeing 747-400 aircraft. With this extra Sunday service, Virgin Atlantic will fly 10 times a week between the two cities.

After the successful launch of its twice-weekly services between Gatwick and Montego Bay, the airline will now be adding a third weekly service, on Fridays, for the winter 2009 season between 13 November 2009 and 19 March 2010. Montego Bay has become a major destination for UK holidaymakers during the winter period, with its warm weather and modern, luxury hotels.

All these extra services will be put on sale over the next few days.

Virgin Atlantic's twice-weekly Heathrow-Mauritius service will resume for the winter season on 13 November 2009, after stopping for the summer on 25 April 2009.