Virgin Atlantic Cargo launches first South America route to GRU

This week, Virgin Atlantic Cargo said it is planning to launch its first route to South America – a 787 service from London Heathrow (LHR) to São Paulo (GRU), which will commence in 2020.

The carrier aims to capitalize on the “fast-growing” Brazilian economy, anticipating high demand for capacity on both of the route’s directions, catering to industries including pharmaceuticals, food and agricultural products.

This year, the carrier is moving to Heathrow’s “most state-of-the-art” cargo terminal – which will double its current operations at LHR – and is waiting Virgin Atlantic for the arrival of the first four of 12 Airbus A350-1000 on order.

It is also a member a new US$13 billion transatlantic joint venture that will include some 300 daily transatlantic flights and 96 non-stop transatlantic routes in partnership with Delta, Air France and KLM.