Virgin counting on tour packages for new route

Strong package tour sales played a key role in attracting McCarran International Airport's latest international route.

Virgin Atlantic, which launched flights between Las Vegas and London 11 years ago, inaugurated service to Manchester, England, on Sunday and expects to fill about 80 percent of the seats based on early bookings. However, said Chris Rossi, Virgin's senior vice president of North America, the passenger profile fits the pattern that has made the city a tough sell for international flights: few business customers and only about 10 percent of the tickets being sold locally.

To counterbalance that, about two-thirds of the Manchester passengers buy packages through the affiliated Virgin Holiday, which creates income beyond just the plane seat.

"The model in the U.K. is still very strong toward booking through tour operators," Rossi said. "In the U.S., people tend to buy travel more independently."

The route opened with 451-seat Boeing 747s on Thursdays and Sundays, designed to give passengers the choice between a long weekend or at least a full week.

Besides Las Vegas as a destination, Virgin pushes West Coast triangle deals that include Los Angeles and San Francisco, with starting and ending points in any of the cities.

Virgin steps into the void left when British carrier bmi pulled out of the market two years ago after reducing its schedule from three to two times a week. Manchester, about 200 miles north of London, is a gateway for the northern part of England.

Rossi said Virgin would like to step up the frequency at some point, but does not lay out a timetable. The flights to London started as twice weekly in 2000, but it took six years to grow the route to daily status.

According to McCarran statistics, Virgin's flights to and from London carried 276,000 people last year compared with 53,000 for bmi carried between here and Manchester in 2008, the last full year it flew the route.

Virgin's passenger counts out of London have dropped 4.5 percent since the peak in 2007, a trend that Rossi attributes to recession that struck the U.K. as well as the U.S.

In addition, British Airways launched a competing daily service to London that emphasized connections on to other points in Europe. Virgin, by contrast, sells the vast majority of tickets in the U.K.

Virgin's future is something of a question mark. Although Rossi said its independent business model has proven itself, Singapore Airlines has stated a desire to sell its 49 percent stake in Virgin. In addition, Virgin President Richard Branson has said that the tighter marketing ties between British Airways and American Airlines could force a change in direction.

Rossi said Virgin is still studying its options on how to proceed.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.