Virgin Atlantic is to offer 30,000 extra seats to Orlando from Manchester Airport in summer 2014.
A 455-seat Boeing 747 will replace a smaller 314-seat Airbus on all 11 of its weekly flights to meet high demand, it said, resulting in up to 2,000 extra seats to and from the Sunshine State every week.
The airline aims to carry up to 10,000 passengers a week from Manchester to Florida next summer, a 25% increase from this year.
The move further confirms Virgin Atlantic’s commitment to expansion in Manchester following the recent launch of its domestic service Little Red, which operates four daily return flights from Manchester Airport to London Heathrow, it said.
Edmond Rose, director of airline planning at Virgin Atlantic said: "Orlando has always been one of our most popular destinations and across our network we offer nearly 40 return flights a week to Florida.
"We are delighted to see continued high demand for our flights from the North West of England and to meet this demand we have taken the decision to bring a second Boeing 747 jumbo jet onto this route, resulting in a huge increase in the number of seats available for holidaymakers looking for a sunshine break.
"This continues our recent work with Manchester Airport to expand our operations, after we launched our first ever domestic flight from the airport this Easter. We now offer passengers from the city four daily flights to London Heathrow, opening up a host of onward connection opportunities on our worldwide network, with destinations varying from Tokyo to Cape Town, Lagos to Los Angeles."
