Virgin Cuts Flights to U.S., Etihad Receives First Airbus A321LR, and Other Airline News This Week

It’s been an exciting week for the world of ultra-luxurious travel as Air France deploys its new La Première to more destinations and Etihad takes delivery of its first Airbus A321LR. Closer to home, route reductions and cuts have made the headlines.

Let’s look in more detail at what’s gone on in the airline world this week.

Virgin Atlantic Trims U.S. Flight Schedule This Winter

Since Virgin Atlantic was founded in 1984, the U.S. has been the airline’s most important destination. We had evidence of that again earlier this year with the opening of the delightful new Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at LAX.

However, the current global political climate is harming the demand for travel to the U.S. Sadly, a knock-on effect is that Virgin has reduced its planned U.S. schedule this coming winter season, according to Cirium data.

Affected routes will be to and from London Heathrow (LHR) and Orlando (MCO), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington-Dulles (IAD).

The most surprising is Orlando, as its nearby theme parks and access to Florida’s beaches are a popular winter escape destination for Brits.

With services halving in November and then reducing to just a single daily flight for the rest of the winter, Virgin’s San Francisco route is the most affected by the cuts.

Etihad Takes Delivery of its First Airbus A321LR

Etihad welcomed the first of 10 impressive Airbus A321LR aircraft to its fleet on Thursday. The airline is the first of the big 3 Middle East carriers to introduce a narrow-body aircraft with lie-flat seats capable of covering medium-haul routes.

Setting this aircraft apart even more is the fact that it’s the only narrow-body aircraft in the world to boast a true first-class seat. Located in the first row of the plane, the 2 first-class suites come complete with their own dedicated crew member and the finest Champagne and caviar.

After flying from the Airbus factory in Hamburg on Thursday, the aircraft will spend just over a week on the ground before its inaugural paying passenger flight to the popular Thai beach destination of Phuket on August 1.

We hope to be able to give you a first-hand account of what it’s like to fly this industry-first plane soon.

Air France Adds New La Première on Second Route

Air France‘s new La Première was unveiled with much fanfare back in March. Having experienced its “old” product for myself, I wondered what the French flag carrier could possibly do to improve this already incredible product.

We were stunned when La Première 2.0 debuted first on Air France’s key route between Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and New York’s JFK in April.

Fast-forward to July, and Air France’s Paris-to-Singapore service was added as the second destination to boast daily service with its retrofitted Boeing 777s that feature the all-new La Première.

Los Angeles (LAX) is the next destination set to welcome Air France’s new La Première sometime this summer.

United Cuts Its Only Route to Cuba

Travel to Cuba by air from the U.S. is only permitted in certain circumstances. For example, you can fly to and from Cuba as a Cuban citizen or to visit relatives, but visits as a tourist to the island nation from the U.S. are not permitted.

Consequently, there are only a handful of nonstop flights from the U.S. to Cuba. As of September 2, 2025, there’ll be 1 flight less, as United will indefinitely suspend its Houston (IAH) to Havana (HAV) flight.

The news comes shortly after the Trump Administration signed the National Security Presidential Memorandum on June 30, 2025, which promises to “restore and strengthen” its position against Cuba.

Just 8 nonstop services from the U.S. to Cuba will remain. Among those, 6 are operated by American Airlines to various Cuban airports from Miami (MIA) where there’s a large Cuban diaspora. Delta and Southwest also operate a single flight to Havana: the former from Miami and the latter from Tampa (TPA).

Qatar Airways Updates Its Reward Seat Finder

Finding award availability can be a time-consuming headache. Qatar Airways intended to make searches easier for its loyal Privilege Club members by introducing a Reward Seat Finder.

The tool was great at showing Avios availability for an entire month up to 1 year in advance, but it wasn’t great when looking for premium cabin availability. Instead, the calendar only displayed results for the cheapest economy award, even if you’d been searching for a coveted Qsuite seat.

After a recent update, the tool now shows when premium cabins are available to book rather than defaulting to the cheapest economy seats. However, the calendar now doesn’t show the number of Avios required for redemption — just the fact there’s something available to book. This is a new headache, as Qatar’s Flexi business class awards require twice as many Avios as its Saver Awards.

European Low Cost Transavia Launches Ticket Resales

Netherlands-based low-cost airline Transavia is introducing a new policy for non-refundable tickets. Thanks to a partnership with Fairlyne, an online resale platform, Transavia passengers can return their non-refundable tickets to Transavia for resale.

The carrier, part of the Air France-KLM Group, promises to compensate passengers if their seats are resold. Transavia hasn’t defined the exact amount of compensation, as this will depend on the ticket and the route.

Not only does this benefit the airline’s bottom line by being able to sell a ticket twice, but the possibility of getting some money back from a ticket that was supposed to be non-refundable could do wonders for overall customer satisfaction.

If the project is successful, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Air France and KLM roll out a similar service.

Final Thoughts

This week has shown that politics and planes don’t mix, at least for United and Virgin. Negatives aside, it’s exciting to learn how world-class carriers like Air France and Etihad are evolving their most premium products. And wouldn’t it be nice if Transavia set a global trend to basically end non-refundable tickets for good? Until next week…