Airlines redraw routes to match shifting passenger demand

Airlines are upgrading the importance of once marginal destinations as they redraw route maps to focus on flights where demand remains strongest in the aftermath of Covid-19. Despite travel restrictions in some regions, people have still been travelling to visit family or friends scattered across the world, airline executives say, offering a resilient stream of income. With leisure and business travel plunging on key transatlantic routes, carriers such as Virgin Atlantic have been tapping into demand for flights from the UK’s south Asian diaspora to places such as Pakistan and India.  The British airline has also reported strong demand for its flights to Lagos in Nigeria. These routes have been up to 90% full, double the current industry average load factor. It is a contrast to the jet-setting image the company has cultivated in flying passengers across the Atlantic to New York and sunny winter destinations such as Florida. Before the pandemic, the carrier relied heavily on long-haul routes to the US, which was one of its most profitable, accounting for up to 70% of the carrier’s seating capacity.  But, with US borders shut for much of the past year and the current ban on international holiday travel in the UK, the airline has had to rip up its business model. “We completely had to change our ways of working, be more agile and grab the opportunities that are there,” said Rikke Christensen, who runs network planning at Virgin Atlantic.<br/>