Virgin Atlantic announces new route to U.S

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. will offer its first-ever flights to Austin,Texas , expanding its US network in a challenge to British Airways, a Bloomberg report said.

According to the report, Virgin will serve the state capital four times weekly starting May 25 with its fleet of Boeing Co. 787 wide-body jets, the Crawley, England-based carrier said in a statement Monday.

Airlines are swelling their timetables in a bet that the coronavirus pandemic that’s hammered global travel will finally begin to wane in 2022. Virgin has never previously flown London-Austin, a route pioneered by IAG AG-owned BA in 2017 and reopened in October after a 17-month gap, the report said.

The service will be Virgin Atlantic’s first new route to the US since 2015, the Bloomberg report said.