Virgin Atlantic to quit Sydney, Hong Kong route

image source: australianaviation.com.au

Virgin Atlantic has announced its intention to withdraw operations between Sydney and Hong Kong from 5th May 2014.

Increasing costs and a challenging economic environment have affected revenues and the route is no longer considered profitable. Virgin Atlantic will continue to operate services between London Heathrow and Hong Kong.

This decision will affect some staff based in Sydney and Hong Kong. A consultation period has commenced with all employees likely to be affected.

Craig Kreeger, Chief Executive at Virgin Atlantic said, “Unfortunately we intend to withdraw our services between Sydney and Hong Kong.  Despite the best efforts of our employees, external factors such as increasing costs and a weakening Australian dollar have affected our profitability.

“These are still difficult times for the airline industry and as part of our strategy to operate more efficiently, we need to deploy our aircraft to routes with the right level of demand to be financially viable.”

It is Virgin Atlantic’s intention that the last flight departing Sydney to Hong Kong will be on 5 May 2014 and the last flight departing Hong Kong to Sydney will be on 4 May 2014. Up to that date, Virgin Atlantic will continue to operate its published schedule and customers can be confident booking flights for travel prior to then.

Any passengers, including codeshare passengers, who are travelling after the 5th May and are concerned about their travel arrangements, should contact Virgin Atlantic or their travel agents to discuss alternate options.