Virgin Atlantic will deploy a Boeing 747 on all 11 of its weekly Manchester to Orlando flights in summer 2014, it has been announced.
The move means the airline will carry up to 10,000 passengers every week from the UK's northern gateway - an extra 2,000 seats, or a 25 per cent increase, on this year.
The 455-seat jumbo jet will replace a 314-seat Airbus A330 which previously operated seven of the 11 weekly flights.
Edmond Rose, director of airline planning at Virgin Atlantic, said: "Orlando has always been one of our most popular destinations and across our network we offer nearly 40 return flights a week to Florida.
"We are delighted to see continued high demand for our flights from the north-west of England and to meet this demand we have taken the decision to bring a second Boeing 747 jumbo jet onto this route, resulting in a huge increase in the number of seats available."
Earlier this month, Virgin Atlantic announced that it is suspending its flights between Heathrow and Accra from September 23 due to "exceptionally high fuel costs" in Ghana (see online news, June 6).
Graham Smith
