Virgin Atlantic is expanding its network to Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, as the British airline looks to cash in on growing air travel between the UK and the Gulf state.

Starting March 30, 2025, Richard Branson’s carrier will operate for the first time a daily passenger service from London Heathrow to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, to tap into the growth expected from the kingdom’s Vision 2030 strategy, the company confirmed in a statement.

Last year, annual trade between the UK and Saudi Arabia stood at £17.1 billion ($22.4 billion) and is forecast to surge to £30 billion by 2030. Travel between the two countries is also expected to expand by 24% between 2019 and 2035.

“Saudi Arabia is [the] world’s 20th largest economy, the largest in the Middle East with a population of 37 million. The market is expected to have a predominantly Saudi Arabian point of sale, which will see customers visiting the UK,” the statement said.

The airline will operate A330neo on the new route and offer 30 tonnes of cargo capacity on each flight, to cater to export and import requirements of businesses.

Also next year, Virgin Atlantic will operate flights to Accra Ghana, marking the return of the service after a 12-year hiatus that started in 2013.

Between January and March this year, Saudi Arabia recorded 165,000 visitors from the UK, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism, said earlier.

Tourism agency VisitBritain had also forecast that the UK is set to welcome 240,000 travellers from Saudi Arabia this year, up 9% on 2019. Saudi visitors’ spending in the UK is poised to reach £752 million in 2024, up 20% on 2019.

Saudi Arabia also attracted 8.6 million visitors from GCC countries last year, contributing SAR 15 billion ($4 billion) to the local economy.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com