Customers doing business in the U.S. midwest market have a wider choice of services this summer with the re-introduction of Virgin Atlantic Cargo’s seasonal daily flights to and from Chicago on April 27.

The airline already offers customers a year-round service to the region through its daily flights linking London and Detroit. The addition of Airbus A330-300 services ex Chicago will boost its capacity offering by a further 16 tons a day and help customers in the U.S. achieve fast connections with the UK and Europe as well as other markets such as India and South Africa.

“We are pleased to welcome back our very popular Chicago route,” said John Lloyd, Virgin Atlantic’s senior vice president of cargo. “With the addition of Detroit last year, we have strengthened our year-round presence in the U.S. midwest, where are have very strong support from our customers on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Even before the start of the airline’s summer services to Chicago, Virgin Atlantic had commitments for more than 50 percent of its capacity from the UK, according to Lloyd. “Typical cargoes ex UK will be wide ranging, such as fresh fish, flowers and perishables as well as mail,” he said. “For customers in the U.S, the early morning arrival of our Detroit and Chicago services into London means we can help them to quickly connect to markets across Europe and to other online destinations such as Johannesburg and Delhi.”

Virgin Atlantic’s Detroit service arrives at London Heathrow at 6:25 AM every morning, while its Chicago flights touch down at 7:55 AM. This enables same day connections to India and South Africa, as well as with Virgin’s road feeder services which deliver to over 50 major cities in Europe.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo offers direct services to and from 12 U.S. destinations; Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington. The airline has a 2-percent capacity share across the Atlantic. It is also responsible for selling Virgin Australia’s international long-haul services from Sydney and Brisbane into Los Angeles, which connect with Virgin Atlantic’s global network.