VS canceling LHR>PVG route from October 2024

[mitchja]

Just received this from VS Trade:

VSbulletin: Shanghai route update - 16 July 2024

After careful consideration, we’ve taken the difficult decision to suspend our London Heathrow – Shanghai services. The final flight from London Heathrow to Shanghai will operate on 25 October 2024, returning from Shanghai to London Heathrow on 26 October 2024.

After 25 years of proudly serving this Asian hub city, operations have become increasingly costly with the closure of Russian airspace for UK carriers. This has resulted in longer flight times, meaning additional aircraft time and fuel is required, all of which have contributed to increased costs for the business.

Our people, customers and you, our partners, have been amazing since we first touched down at Shanghai in 1999, providing important connectivity between the UK and Shanghai for thousands of customers and supporting global supply chains through our cargo operations.

We understand that this news may be disappointing for you and our mutual customers and we appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.

Anyone booked to travel from 26 October 2024 will be offered a refund.

I’m not surprised given the issues of operating that route since Russia closed its airspace to a lot of Western airlines.

It does make you wonder whether ICN will ever operate let alone a return to Tokyo, or if it’s being used as a convenient, albeit legitimate, excuse.

Surely BA have the same issue maybe VS will deploy that 787 to Canada or even South America.

[mitchja]

Surely BA have the same issue

Apparently so. There is also speculation about BA cutting capacity on their HKG route as well as that's another route that has pretty much collapsed from the UK.

Surely BA have the same issue maybe VS will deploy that 787 to Canada or even South America.

They probably do, but the difference is BA have a network at the UK end to fill the plane with other people besides those just flying from/heading to London and there’s probably some sort of expectation on them to serve China one way or another because of who they are. They may also have an easier time making money flying to China compared to VS for a whole host of other reasons.

Surely BA have the same issue maybe VS will deploy that 787 to Canada or even South America.

Given it was announced the other day that BA are soon suspending their Beijing route for at least a year, I’m inclined to agree, though their PVG and HKG routes remain.