It seems that Virgin Atlantic is soon to lose its exclusive direct route from the the UK to Las Vegas which it has been enjoying since BMI stopped its direct flights from Manchester in April and since MaxJet went under Xmas 2007.British Airways are about to annouce that they to will be flying daily from London to Las VegasI have to be honest my preferred route is LHR to LAS with United Airlines via either SFO or LAX but lets hope that this competition can do something to shrink the fares and offer us even better value, to match the best value Las Vegas hotel rooms that can be found here.

Officials for the carrier are scheduled to announce a new direct daily service between McCarran International Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport, the busiest international airport in the world. The service, scheduled to begin in October, has been in the works for years and the decision by British Airways to proceed despite the global recession is a major vote of confidence in the future of Las Vegas, which has been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn.

The plan is for daily service to begin Oct. 25, with a flight arriving in Las Vegas at 5:10 p.m. The return trip to London will depart at 7 p.m., Lampl said. The airline will use a Boeing 777 configured with 274 seats, 24 of which will be “world traveler plus,” 36 business-class with seats that recline fully to 180 degrees and 214 economy class. Lampl said the company identified 35 major cities, including Rome; Prague, Czech Republic; Stockholm, Sweden; and Paris, from which travelers could connect to Las Vegas with less than two hours waiting at Heathrow.

If British Airways flies the route at 72 percent load factor, the average load factor for the airline in the most recent reporting period, it would mean about 12,000 arrivals and departures at McCarran a month. The number could be higher if British Airways matches the 92 percent load factor Virgin Atlantic achieves on its route from a smaller airport with less connection potential. Great Britain is the No. 3 provider of foreign tourists to Las Vegas behind Canada and Mexico, according to the LVCVA.

Source http://www.lasvegassun.com

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