Delta and Virgin Atlantic celebrate new flights at London Heathrow

Joint venture partners, Delta and Virgin Atlantic marked the start of new services between London-Heathrow and Los Angeles and London-Heathrow and Atlanta respectively, with expanded co-location at the U.K. hub.

Both airlines now operate their Atlanta and Los Angeles services from London's Heathrow Terminal 3, increasing the joint venture flights at Terminal 3 to more than 90 percent. The co-location provides convenient connections and a seamless customer experience for passengers of both airlines.

Benefits include access to Virgin Atlantic's award winning Clubhouse and fully flat-bed seats with direct aisle access on flights between the U.K. and U.S for all business class passengers. Additionally, Delta's Business Elite passengers can also take advantage of pre-arranged private car access to the Upper Class Wing at Terminal 3, enabling them to reach the Clubhouse within 10 minutes of check-in at the exclusive desk.

The LA and Atlanta routes are the first transfer of operations between the airlines since the launch of their joint venture in early 2014 and offer more choice and flexibility on these key routes across the Atlantic.

Delta is flying nonstop from London to California for the first time with one of two daily Heathrow-Los Angeles flights previously operated by Virgin Atlantic.

The route is Delta's seventh nonstop between London and the United States. Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, is operating its first ever flights into the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, having taken over one of Delta's three daily services.

“We have a common goal to grow our joint venture network across the trans-Atlantic and provide customers with greater choice,” said Ed Bastian, President of Delta.  “With the Virgin Atlantic service to our hometown and Delta providing nonstop access between London and Los Angeles, this route harmonisation is a further demonstration of our strong partnership,” a statement jointly issued by the two entities said.

Delta is one of the largest airlines in California and from LA customers can transfer onto more than 40 destinations within the U.S, Latin America and Caribbean.

Since the start of the Delta and Virgin Atlantic trans-Atlantic joint venture, 3.5 million passengers have experienced the benefits of the partnership. There are currently 33 daily flights.

The two airlines also have a codeshare agreement in place, maximizing the customer appeal of the joint schedule through offering more flight choices for travellers on both sides of the Atlantic by improving their travel options.