Virgin challenges British Airways, offers first-ever flights to Austin and Texas

Airlines are swelling their timetables in a bet that the coronavirus pandemic that’s hammered global travel will finally begin to wane in 2022. Virgin has never previously flown London-Austin but is now expanding its US network in a challenge to British Airways

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. will offer its first-ever flights to Austin, Texas, expanding its US network in a challenge to British Airways.

A Virgin Atlantic Airways plane taxis at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. Virgin Atlantic has received 400 million pounds of new funding from its shareholders to help the airline ride out the coronavirus pandemic.  (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Virgin will serve the state capital four times weekly starting May 25 with its fleet of Boeing Co. 787 wide-body jets, the Crawley, England-based carrier said in a statement Monday.

Airlines are swelling their timetables in a bet that the coronavirus pandemic that’s hammered global travel will finally begin to wane in 2022. Virgin has never previously flown London-Austin, a route pioneered by IAG AG-owned BA in 2017 and reopened in October after a 17-month gap.

The service will be Virgin Atlantic’s first new route to the US since 2015.