Sir Richard Branson touches down at Pearson to launch return of Virgin Atlantic flights between Toronto and London

Sir Richard Branson was in town to celebrate Virgin planes touching down in Toronto again for the first time in 10 years.

Virgin Atlantic says flights between Toronto and London are here to stay after the airline resumed service between the two cities for the first time in a more than a decade.

Starting this past Sunday and through the summer, the airline has daily flights between Toronto and London.

On board one of the first flights at Pearson Airport Thursday was Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson.

He exited the aircraft with much fanfare, flanked by his team along with Canadian and British flags.

“We’re just so, so pleased to be back here again,” said Branson at a press conference a short time later.

“For some reason or another, it seems a lot of Canadians want to go that direction at the moment and so we’re happy to oblige.”

Some airline analysts believe now is a good time to bring back Virgin Atlantic’s London-Toronto route.

“It’s summer, so a lot of Canadians are travelling but fewer Canadians are travelling to the U.S. because of the relationship between the two countries,” said McGill University Desautels Faculty of Management Professor, Karl Moore.

He said the timing makes sense with demand for flights to the U.S down, while London is a key connector for many other world cities.

With the tariff situation, Moore said more Canadians may choose Europe for a vacation.

“More competition means prices go down in theory and in practice as well, but demand is up in the summer, up because of what’s happening with our friends in the south, so that demand goes up and so do prices because more people want to be on the plane.”

Branson didn’t want to comment directly on his reaction to the U.S. tariffs imposed globally or what the tariffs would mean for his companies. He focused instead on the relationship between the U.K. and Canada.

“Between Canada and Britain there are - I don’t think - any tariffs. I can’t see any tariffs existing between our two countries, and hopefully the countries can become even closer than over the past 50 years.”

Virgin Atlantic’s return to Canada comes as it expands its partnership with Westjet.

The company said it’s learned a lot after withdrawing from the Canadian market - and this time it’s here to stay.