Tues "The Australian"
Kangaroo route saves Branson his blushes
By Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
June 22, 2004
ENTREPRENEUR Richard Branson will narrowly avoid the indignity of donning a Qantas flight attendant's uniform after Virgin Atlantic announced yesterday it would start daily flights between Sydney and London on December 8.
Sir Richard promised last July he would don the Qantas uniform and serve drinks on one of the airline's flights if he failed to start the service within 18 months. Yesterday he described the announcement, on the eve of Virgin Atlantic's 20th birthday, as "a dream come true".
"Today's announcement is another major landmark in Virgin Atlantic's development," he said. "Sydney is a prestigious route and will become a 23rd destination."
Virgin's new service means Qantas faces another high-quality, full-service airline on what is already a competitive route.
The Australian carrier last year pulled out of Rome because it could not make money on the route and will stop flying to Paris on October 31 for similar reasons.
Virgin, which is 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines, decided to start the service despite a warning from the European Commission that the agreement discriminated against non-British carriers from the European Union.
The British and Hong Kong governments decided to bring a new bilateral aviation treaty into provisional effect on December 1, despite the EC warning. "The EU hasn't blessed it yet but we're going ahead anyway because we believe there's no way that they're going to turn this deal off," said Mackenzie Grant, Virgin's head of Asia- Pacific.
However, Virgin will be beaten to the punch on the route by Qantas.
The flying kangaroo announced on the weekend that it would fly three new flights from Sydney to London via Hong Kong from November, subject to International Air Services Commission approval.
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