Virgin Atlantic's Seoul and Phuket flights are now its two longest routes
Phuket starts on 18 October with three flights a week, and only in winter, while Seoul has to be flown for at least three years.
Virgin Atlantic has added two nonstop routes from London Heathrow in 2026, to Seoul Incheon and to Phuket, and they are now the longest on its network. Seoul is first at up to 14 hours 30 minutes of block time. Phuket is second at up to 13 hours 40 minutes.
Both times are measured on the return leg, from Asia back to Heathrow, where headwinds and the need to avoid Russian airspace lengthen the flight. The Phuket service starts on Sunday, 18 October, exactly a week before Northern Hemisphere airlines switch to their winter schedules under IATA slot seasons.
How the Seoul service came about
Virgin took off from Heathrow to Incheon on 29 March, with up to a daily operation on its 258-seat Boeing 787-9. Flights to Seoul were first mentioned in 2023, when Virgin joined SkyTeam, but were then shelved.
The route is unlikely to exist without Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana. Several countries, the UK among them, had to approve the deal. The worry was that only Korean Air and Asiana flew nonstop passenger services between the UK and South Korea, after British Airways pulled out during the pandemic in 2020.
Once the two South Korean carriers become a single airline, as they will in time, there would be no head-to-head competition to London, and consumers would suffer. To win the approval of UK authorities, Korean Air and Asiana gave up slots so that Virgin could launch a daily service to Incheon.
Virgin must serve Incheon for at least three years. Yet Virgin and Korean Air are both in SkyTeam and codeshare between London and Seoul, so the competition is not entirely real.
Virgin's VS208 leaves Heathrow at 1:25 PM and lands at 10:05 AM the next day. VS209 departs Incheon at 12:25 PM and reaches London at 6:50 PM, both on the 787-9.
Asiana flies OZ522 at 4:35 PM on an Airbus A350-900, returning as OZ521 at 7:50 AM. Korean Air flies KE908 at 7:35 PM on a Boeing 777-300ER, returning as KE907 at 10:55 AM. Virgin's Incheon departure is the earliest of the three from Heathrow.
What Phuket offers and who it competes with
The less premium cabin layout suits a leisure-driven market, and one aircraft is enough for the frequency, which is standard for a brand-new long-haul route.
VS214 leaves Heathrow at 3:45 PM on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and arrives at 9:55 AM the next day. VS215 leaves Phuket at 11:45 AM on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and lands at 7:25 PM. Those times apply for 18 to 24 October.
Phuket will be the second time Heathrow has had nonstop service there. Thai Airways flew it during the pandemic, in 2021 and 2022. In the 12 months to July 2026, about 253,000 round-trip passengers travelled between London and Phuket, according to OAG Traffic Analyzer.
Almost all of them connected on the way. Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways alone have up to 12 daily flights from their hubs to Phuket. Nonstop options from London are growing: TUI Airways and Norse Atlantic fly from Gatwick this winter, with Norse starting on 4 December.
The wider Virgin network
Virgin is the UK's second-largest long-haul operator, with services from Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh. OAG data shows an average of 31 daily departures from Heathrow in 2026, or 13% of the long-haul services from the UK's busiest airport.
Even with two additions, Virgin's activity is down 3% year over year, influenced by routes that ended recently. Comparing its 2025 Heathrow network with the 2026 schedule shows only these two routes have joined.
The Caribbean flights, some of them one-stop, are much shorter. The longest is Heathrow to Grenada via Barbados, with a maximum block time of 11 hours 25 minutes this year. In the past, Virgin flew to Sydney via Hong Kong, its longest scheduled operation ever.
We have also reported on the airline's newest Upper Class suite, which Virgin Atlantic ties to just three US departure tiers. Whether the Asian routes get the same treatment is not stated in the sources, so the cabin on offer to Seoul and Phuket is not confirmed here.
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Sources
This briefing is published daily using an AI-powered system crafted by Luxa Terra’s team and finely tuned to meet our editorial standards. While we continuously test and review the output, mistakes can sometimes happen. Tell us if you spot one.
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