Virgin Atlantic completes inaugural flight from London to Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. - Virgin Atlantic completed its inaugural flight from London Heathrow Airport to Tampa International Airport Wednesday afternoon. This is the first time the airline has served TPA, and it’s the first route between TPA and London’s hub airport.

The new route is indicative of the Tampa Bay region’s exponential growth. It’s attracting both tourism and business travel.

"The UK has a lot of business here, actually more than 100 businesses in the Tampa area are invested by, owned by, and operated by UK-originated businesses, so the direction of travel is not just from the UK to Tampa, but also from Tampa to the UK," said Shai Weiss, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic.

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The airline’s founder and president, Sir Richard Branson, was also at TPA to celebrate the new route.

"As a pirate, it’s great to have taken over Tampa, to have made sure that the only way people can get to Britain from Tampa and go to the main airport there Heathrow is on Virgin Atlantic! If they were to go to a secondary airport they have to fly on the other airline, I can’t remember its name, but anyway," said Branson.

British and European visitors have always been an economic driver for the Tampa Bay region and having a new airline at TPA will also create more jobs.

"I appreciate the new jobs that this is generating, I just happened to be over at the flamingo earlier, and a thank you to you Sir Richard from Austin’s mom, who happens to be one of the new ticket agents who is employed here at the Tampa International Airport, so we’re very happy to see that economic engine growing here in Tampa," said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

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Virgin Atlantic is starting service from Heathrow to Tampa four days per week, but will be increasing to daily flights at the end of November.