Virgin Atlantic cuts two Atlantic island routes to trim network

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. will stop operating flights to The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos as the carrier ramps up services to other destinations in the Caribbean as well as South Africa.

Virgin will cease operations to the Bahamas toward the end of February, while the final service to Turks and Caicos, a destination Virgin started serving only in November of last year, will take place at a similar time, the company said in a statement. 

The move is part of Virgin’s plan to “focus on optimising our network” while the company increases frequencies to Antigua, Barbados and Cape Town next year, according to the release. The carrier will rebook or refund passengers affected by the changes, it said. 

Virgin recently also withdrew from the Chinese market, saying it will suspend flights between London Heathrow and Shanghai from October because of high costs associated with avoiding flying over Russian airspace.