Virgin ended its Heathrow-Dubai service early this winter owing to the war in the Middle East, and suspended flights to Riyadh. It has since added services to Jamaica, India and the US.
Dubai will remain on pause for the 2026/27 winter season with the Foreign Office continuing to advise against all but essential travel to the United Arab Emirates. However, Virgin has pledged to return to Dubai during its 2027/28 winter season "subject to safety assessments and demand".
Virgin flights to Seattle, meanwhile, will resume in late March 2027, although passengers can travel with Virgin's US partner Delta, which flies to Seattle daily from Heathrow.
The changes to Virgin's schedule, and any effects on bookings, will show up in GDS updates at the weekend, Virgin said on Wednesday (6 May). It has cited "evolving customer demand" for its decisions.
"Unfortunately, we have taken the difficult decision to temporarily suspend our seasonal service to Dubai for the winter 2026 season, while services to Seattle will also be temporarily suspended for the winter 2026 season only before resuming in March 2027," said Virgin.
"We’d like to apologise to any affected customers and will be contacting them with their options which include rebooking or a refund."
The beneficiary is South Africa, with Virgin poised to up capacity to Cape Town by more than 50% year-on-year and to Johannesburg by more than 75%.
"We’re pleased to announce a significant increase in capacity to South Africa for the upcoming winter 2026 season, reinforcing our long-standing commitment to the market and meeting growing demand for both leisure and business travel," said a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson.
From 25 October 2026 to 27 March 2027, Virgin will operate a daily Cape Town service, plus four additional ex-UK services on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, amounting to an extra 52% capacity. Virgin Atlantic will operate the route using Boeing 787 aircraft.
During the same period, Virgin will fly a daily Johannesburg service using an Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, plus three additional ex-UK services on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. These will be operated by Boeing 787-9 aircraft, adding an extra 78% capacity.
The Virgin spokesperson added: "We look forward to increasing capacity to South Africa with services to Johannesburg rising to 10 flights per week and Cape Town to 11 flights per week, offering customers greater flexibility and connectivity for winter sun to the region."
