Virgin Atlantic has announced on Monday that it would be resuming flights to 17 destinations, including Lagos, from August 1.

It said the flight will operate on its new A350-1000 aircraft and will provide connections to a range of US destinations.

“As countries around the world begin to relax travel restrictions, we look forward to welcoming our customers back on-board and flying them safely to many destinations across our network,” Juha Jarvinen, the chief commercial officer of Virgin Atlantic, said.

“From July 20, we will resume services to New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong; then from August 1, onwards, we will resume passenger flying to 17 additional destinations around the world including Lagos, Tel Aviv, Atlanta, Mumbai and Las Vegas.

“We are monitoring external conditions extremely closely, in particular the travel restrictions many countries have in place including the 14-day quarantine policy for travellers entering the UK.”

According to the statement, the airline will operate from Terminal 2 at Heathrow and hopes to return to London Heathrow Terminal 3 when demand grows.

The aviation industry was badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as countries imposed travel restrictions to control the spread of virus. Some airlines, including Emirates, have resumed operations.

In Nigeria, the federal government said the June 21 tentative date for the resumption of domestic flights is no longer feasible while international flights remain suspended.