The policy is available to passengers with a ticket purchased between 4 March and 31 March for travel up to and including 30 September.

New tickets can be reissued up until the day before departure.

Virgin’s new rules apply to all international routes, including departures from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast, and all tickets booked on transatlantic codesharing routes operated by Delta, Air France and KLM.

Virgin said the move was designed to “protect customers from the challenges the emergence of Covid-19 presents.”

Juha Jarvinen, Virgin Atlantic chief commercial officer, said: “We understand that, with evolving travel advice, some of our customers may wish to build in some flexibility to upcoming travel plans.

“Putting our customers first, this new policy enables them to continue with their Virgin Atlantic booking this month, with the peace of mind that there is the option to change their flight at a later date, without incurring a fee.”

Virgin’s Heathrow-Shanghai operations will remain suspended until 19 April, while its Heathrow-Hong Kong schedule has been revised owing to the impact on demand of Covid-19.