Virgin Atlantic is to increase its frequency between London Heathrow and Hong Kong from daily to twice a day from October.

Flight VS238 will operate three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 28 October and then daily from 4 December. It will depart London Heathrow Terminal 3 at 16.00, arriving in Hong Kong at 12.30pm the following afternoon.
Flight VS239 will operate between Hong Kong and London Heathrow on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 29 October, and then daily from 5 December. It will depart Hong Kong at 14.15, arriving at London Heathrow at 19.20 the same day.
Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said the route was one of Virgin’s most popular services. He said: “East is the new West and this second daily service will offer our passengers even more opportunities via Hong Kong, which is the third busiest long-haul route out of Heathrow after New York’s JFK and Dubai.”
Scott Braidwood, managing director of On The Go Tours, welcomed the news. He said: “Tours to China continue to increase although due to hotel constraints we are not running any tours over the Olympic period.”
The company launched the 13-day Hutongs to Hong Kong tour this year, featuring the Terracotta Warriors, ancient Suzhou and Shanghai. “Hong Kong is popular not only as a stopover enroute to Australia, but as a gateway to the rest of China. It features as part of, or an extension of, the majority of A&K’s China itineraries – all of which continue to sell well. We have recognised its importance by locating our regional headquarters for China here”, said Kay Durden, head of planning, Abercrombie & Kent.

“The Beijing Olympics is likely to increase awareness of all of China‘s attractions and we anticipate increased enquiries after the games have finished. We always welcome increased capacity on popular routes such as Hong Kong.”

Arrival figures to Hong Kong for quarter one are up nine per cent on 2007, said Simon Mills, director, Northern Europe, Hong Kong Tourism Board. Occupancy levels across all hotel categories was 85% in April. “The extra flight is excellent news and we hope that it will play a role in supporting visits by luxury travellers,” said Mills.