Virgin Atlantic about to axe route from London to Austin

For the last several years, Austin, Tex. has been the hottest place to be according to any number of factors. The real estate market spiked from the rush of young professionals moving there to escape even higher California prices. And airlines such as Air Canada  (ACDVF) - Get Free Report and Aeromexico  (GRPAF) - Get Free Report launched new routes to serve the growing numbers of tourists to the city.

While traditionally seen as a "young person's city," Austin has also been seeing an increase of new residents coming there to retire.

Related: An unexpected trending city is attracting thousands of retirees each month

But throughout the rise of Austin's popularity, there have also been voices saying that the "flash in the pan" moment may soon come to a crash. 

Virgin Atlantic made the 'tough decision' to cut route

At least one airline, British Virgin Atlantic  (SPCE) - Get Free Report, is already seeing lower demand and will be canceling its route between London's Heathrow Airport and Austin in January 2024. The flight currently runs on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays on a Boeing 787-9 and takes just over 10 hours.

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"We’ve adored flying our customers to Austin and experiencing this wonderful city of music and culture, but demand in the Tech sector is not set to improve in the near term, with corporate demand at 70% of 2019 levels," Virgin Atlantic's Chief Commercial Officer Juha Jarvinen said in a statement. "Therefore, sadly we made the tough decision to withdraw services."

The route was launched in May 2022 amid the explosion of Austin demand but will officially be cut on Jan. 7, 2024 — those who want to fly to the city from London still have a few months to do it while those who have booked flights past that time will be contacted by Virgin for a refund.

The ongoing attempt to turn Austin into a Texas tech hub (as well as the rising numbers of tech professionals moving there) were what initially pushed Virgin to launch the flight, but the bubble appears to have burst as some leave, and the number of tech businesses there normalizes to be more in line with a city of Austin’s size.

Virgin instead ramping up flights to these cities

After this service is cut, Virgin Atlantic will increase flights from London to Barbados from 11 times a week to 14 times a week by March 2024 and flights to Miami from 11 to 14 for the summer 2024 season.

In the winter of 2025, Virgin will also start running flights to Dubai from London seven times a week instead of the previous four. All of these cities are currently seeing high demand from both tourists and business travelers. As major hubs for travel in their respective regions, Miami and Dubai also provide the high volume of traffic that can be redirected for those going to smaller cities.

"We'd like to thank everyone in Austin; our customers, teams, partners and the authorities for their support over the past 18 months," Jarvinen said.