Virgin Atlantic celebrates 10 years of Las Vegas service

Virgin Atlantic Airways is celebrating a milestone as the international carrier has been offering direct flights to Las Vegas for 10 years now. Every week Virgin lands 148 non-stop flights to Sin City, making this venture extremely successful and lucrative for the Sir Richard Branson owned airline.

Not only is this good news for the airline industry, but it has been a real money maker for Las Vegas. It is a well known fact that international tourists stay longer and spend more money
when on vacation in the United States and Las Vegas is one of the three top cities they visit often (New York and Orlando are the other two). The direct flight has brought in $1 billion to Las Vegas’ local economy.

A great way to get those international travelers all the way over to the desert to gamble is to offer direct flights
from their home country. In a press conference Tuesday, Branson explained why this partnership works so well, “Las Vegas is made for Virgin and Virgin is made for Las Vegas and
we’ve had 10 great years. Ten million people have come from England
here direct and it’s been a lot of fun and we are still having fun.”

Virgin Atlantic plans to add a new direct flight from Manchester twice a week starting next April. Other airlines are now considering offering non-stop flights as well to Vegas from various European cities.

Source: CBS