G-BOY
25th Jun 2007, 13:31
Found this on Virgin Train's website - End of the domestic airliner? If this is the case, it'll be bad news for Eastern Airlines if Virgin is sucessful in taking over the East Coast franchise.
There's another story above it from when they re-launched a voyager train using bio-fuels, about how Virgin Atlantic also ordered a number of 787s - which is a whole other can of worms.
ASA rejects Easyjet’s complaints
Virgin Trains has seized on the Advertising Standards Authority’s rejection of Easyjet’s complaint against its advertising and will now extend its popular and successful Plane Relief Plus campaign to encourage air travellers to ditch the plane for the train.
Already, thousands of customers flying between London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow have ditched the plane for the train, swapping their plane boarding cards for a free Virgin Trains First Class ticket sampling train services which are beating airlines hands down on price, frequency, punctuality and environmental protection. The special offer has now been extended to include all flights up until the end of July.
The fresh campaign taking on the airlines comes as the ASA rejects Easyjet’s complaint that Virgin Trains’ Go Greener, Go Cheaper advertisement contained misleading statements and unqualified calculation of comparative carbon emissions of trains and planes.
Virgin Trains stands by its advertising statements and the fact that its Pendolino trains emit 76 percent less CO2 than the same trip by car or plane. This was determined in a study by Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management Ltd., an independent consulting company, and was based on flights between London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson said: “I have enormous respect for Easyjet and all that they’ve achieved, and therefore I’m saddened when they shoot themselves in the foot. A Virgin train is clearly way ahead of short haul commercial aircraft on carbon emissions, even without us putting one fifth of our electricity back into the grid.
“More and more customers are giving up short haul airline travel in favour of the train, citing the environment as one of the principal reasons for doing so. The ASA ruling can leave them in no doubt that they are right to do so.”
During the past year, Virgin Trains’ Moving Annual Average punctuality for trains between Glasgow and London arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled time rose from 80.3 to 85.3 percent, while Easyjet’s average punctuality between Glasgow and Luton fell from 86.7 to 73.1 percent. The airline suffered a 9.4 percent reduction in passengers on the route during this period, and its average punctuality between Glasgow and Stansted also fell, from 86.2 to 71.6 percent. At the same time Virgin has seen a 25 percent growth on their London to Glasgow route.
Information last updated: 06 June 2007, 16:00
There's another story above it from when they re-launched a voyager train using bio-fuels, about how Virgin Atlantic also ordered a number of 787s - which is a whole other can of worms.
ASA rejects Easyjet’s complaints
Virgin Trains has seized on the Advertising Standards Authority’s rejection of Easyjet’s complaint against its advertising and will now extend its popular and successful Plane Relief Plus campaign to encourage air travellers to ditch the plane for the train.
Already, thousands of customers flying between London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow have ditched the plane for the train, swapping their plane boarding cards for a free Virgin Trains First Class ticket sampling train services which are beating airlines hands down on price, frequency, punctuality and environmental protection. The special offer has now been extended to include all flights up until the end of July.
The fresh campaign taking on the airlines comes as the ASA rejects Easyjet’s complaint that Virgin Trains’ Go Greener, Go Cheaper advertisement contained misleading statements and unqualified calculation of comparative carbon emissions of trains and planes.
Virgin Trains stands by its advertising statements and the fact that its Pendolino trains emit 76 percent less CO2 than the same trip by car or plane. This was determined in a study by Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management Ltd., an independent consulting company, and was based on flights between London, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson said: “I have enormous respect for Easyjet and all that they’ve achieved, and therefore I’m saddened when they shoot themselves in the foot. A Virgin train is clearly way ahead of short haul commercial aircraft on carbon emissions, even without us putting one fifth of our electricity back into the grid.
“More and more customers are giving up short haul airline travel in favour of the train, citing the environment as one of the principal reasons for doing so. The ASA ruling can leave them in no doubt that they are right to do so.”
During the past year, Virgin Trains’ Moving Annual Average punctuality for trains between Glasgow and London arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled time rose from 80.3 to 85.3 percent, while Easyjet’s average punctuality between Glasgow and Luton fell from 86.7 to 73.1 percent. The airline suffered a 9.4 percent reduction in passengers on the route during this period, and its average punctuality between Glasgow and Stansted also fell, from 86.2 to 71.6 percent. At the same time Virgin has seen a 25 percent growth on their London to Glasgow route.
Information last updated: 06 June 2007, 16:00