Despite airlines worldwide feeling the pinch due to Covid-19, Virgin Atlantic plans to reintroduce flights between Heathrow, London, and Cape Town from November.

The airline's CEO Shai Weiss said preparations to relaunch its passenger services are well under way.

“While the past few months have been difficult, we are confident about what the future holds and we are excited to welcome our travellers back on board soon,” said Weiss.

He said the airline was taking “every possible step to ensure our customers have maximum peace of mind to fly, as the travel restrictions are lifted”.

“This includes additional cleanliness and health measures on board as well as at the airport, to protect our people and customers in line with expert advice, including Public Health England, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the World Health Organisation and aviation regulatory bodies,” said Weiss.

“We look forward to welcoming our leisure passengers to London Heathrow and have retained our slot portfolio at Gatwick to enable us to return, as customer demand recovers.”

Weiss said travellers who had already booked a flight which was due to depart from Gatwick airport would be accommodated with a flight departing from Heathrow.