Bulking up with new planes, Virgin adding third LV flight

Monday, Feb. 12, 2001 | 11:20 a.m.

Virgin Atlantic Airlines will add a third nonstop flight between London and Las Vegas next summer.

The British air carrier, which currently offers flights between London's Gatwick International Airport and McCarran International Airport Thursdays and Sundays, will add a weekly Tuesday flight beginning June 19, McCarran officials said.

Virgin Atlantic representatives have hinted for months about plans to increase the frequency of flights between London and Las Vegas, but haven't verified a schedule or startup date.

The company plans to take delivery of five Boeing 747 jumbo jets between March and June and plans to beef up its presence at Gatwick, London's secondary airport, with additional flights. It also plans to inaugurate service between London and Toronto and add flights between London and New York and Washington.

Virgin Atlantic's flamboyant chief executive, entrepreneur Richard Branson, has been named by local gaming industry and real estate sources as a possible investor in a south Strip hotel-casino resort.

The airline, which is planning 10 percent to 15 percent growth this year, also is poised add even more flights in 2002. Virgin Atlantic will be the first airline to fly the Airbus A340-600, a new 400-passenger four-engine jumbo jet under development by Airbus Industrie, a European conglomerate.

When the first A340 jets are delivered in 2002, Virgin is expected to add even more capacity for international flights, experts say. In addition to adding frequency to existing destinations, the airline is investigating new routes to the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Meanwhile, Japan Airlines, which some had speculated would increase its Tokyo-to-Las Vegas flights when Northwest Airlines discontinues the route in April, plans to maintain its current level of five flights a week this year.

The Tokyo-based company recently announced fleet changes and aircraft route transfers it plans in the upcoming year. But the airline will maintain the status quo for its Tokyo-Las Vegas route, making some modest changes in its Tokyo-Los Angeles, Tokyo-Honolulu and Osaka-Chicago transpacific schedule.

Harry Kassap, manager of air service development at McCarran, said the airline's decision is disappointing because local tourism officials were hoping JAL would add service to offset the loss of two flights, or more than 800 seats a week, from Tokyo on Northwest.

Kassap, in Washington last week for aviation talks between the U.S. government and Japan and Hong Kong, said travel to and from Tokyo could change in 2002, thanks to the construction of a new runway at that city's Narita International Airport.

Kassap said the additional capacity that would occur with the new runway could open some landing slots.

Northwest is discontinuing its Tokyo-Las Vegas nonstop route to add capacity between Tokyo and its hub in Minneapolis.