Virgin loco ;100 buses?

[411]

Just heard a report on the radio that Virgin have announced an order for 100 Airbuses for a new low cost op in the USA. Can anyone confirm this?

[lasernigel]

SorMassive Airbus order on the horizon May 6 2004




Daily Post


DETAILS of a firm order and options on more than 100 Airbus jets are expected to be revealed this week.

Richard Branson's Virgin Group is reported to be on the verge of placing the massive order with the European aircraft manufacturer.

Branson wants a mix of Airbus A319 and A320 jets for his new low-cost US airline which is likely to be launched in the first quarter of 2005.

Called Virgin US, the new carrier will order an initial 30 planes - the wings for which are made at the Airbus aerospace complex on Deeside - with options on up to 100 more planes over the following three to five years. The deal could be worth more than £2bn.

Airbus has just handed over its 3,500th aircraft, an A318 for Air France, three decades after it delivered its first commercial aircraft.

Up to the end of 1974, Airbus had delivered five aircraft, but 10 years on the figure had risen to 288. In 1974, Airbus had three operators but now there are

209. Out of the entire Airbus fleet in operation, 37% are in Europe, 30% in North America, 18% in the Far East, 7% in the Middle East, 6% in Latin America and 2% in Africa.

Airbus is struggling to get a firmer foothold in the important Japanese market which has been dominated by its rival manufacturer Boeing for half a century.

Last month All Nippon Airways announced it was ordering 50 Boeing 7E7 Dreamliner jets.

Sorry for cut and paste it's a lazy option!

[Flightmapping]

How small is small? And presumably RB would want to forge links with transatlantic (which he's never been able to do at BRU, but will be able to do once VS reach SYD - later this year??)

Jet Blue would fit such criteria, or are they already too well established?

FLEET:


57 Airbus A320 aircraft , all powered by International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500 engines
JetBlue has orders with Airbus for a fleet of as many as 202 A320 aircraft and has placed an order with Embraer for a fleet of up to 200 EMBRAER 190 aircraft. The first EMBRAER 190 aircraft will be delivered in 2005.
JetBlue's A320 aircraft have a single-class configuration of 156 seats, while the EMBRAER 190 will have a single-class configuration of 100 seats.
All JetBlue's fleet is outfitted with leather seats with free DIRECTV programming® at every seat.

[BRISTOLRE]

if it was JB, this would combine nicely with feeding transatlantic VS flights in places like JFK! Ideal strategy, hub/spoke & feeder traffic to fill up seats.

[Mode7]

The Bearded Assassin said that he’d never buy an established airline again after the mess with Virgin Express. He will only operate a ‘new’ airline that has been groomed from the start his way and not the way of others.