Competition for passengers travelling directly to London from Accra is set to get keener from today with the inclusion of Virgin Atlantic as one of the airlines plying the route. The airline from Monday will fly three times a week to the UK capital, a route which until now has been operated by British Airways and Ghana International Airlines. Virgin Atlantic is noted for offering great bargains and is most likely to force competition to play along. An introductory offer of a 150 dollar return ticket for the inaugural flight was completely sold out, but regular economy class tickets are said to be going for 340 dollars. The Airbus A340-300 aircraft which would fly the route has an upper deck reserved for premium first class passengers. Virgin would be the first of three international airlines set to begin scheduled flights to Accra by the end of July this year. US carrier United Air, Brussels Airlines and Turkey Airlines are all at advanced stages of securing licenses from the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority. This is expected to bring the number of airlines operating out of Ghana to about thirty. Meanwhile, Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey tells Joy Business, the Kokota International Airport is being readied to handle the anticipated increase in traffic. Play the attached audio for excerpts of the interview Source: Joy Business/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana