Virgin Order more A340-600
From Bloomberg.
Virgin Atlantic Buys Airbus Planes Worth $5.5 Billion (Update1)
Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., the airline controlled by U.K. billionaire Richard Branson, ordered 26 A340-600 planes from Airbus SAS worth about $5.5 billion as it seeks to double in size over the next five years.
Virgin Atlantic chose planes from Airbus, the world's largest maker of commercial aircraft, over those from Boeing Co. because passengers prefer the four engines of the A340s to the two engines on Boeing's 777, Branson said in an interview.
``About 20 percent of passengers will go out of their way for four engines,'' Branson said. ``These planes are very fuel efficient and customer friendly.''
The order is the biggest ever for Crawley, England-based Virgin Atlantic, which flies more than 20 long-haul routes to North America, Asia and Africa. The airline operates a fleet of 13 Boeing 747-400s, seven A340-600s and nine A340-300s. It has five more A340- 600s and six A380s on order.
Virgin Atlantic, which already has 16 Airbus planes in its fleet, is seeking to expand amid a recovery in air travel. Branson said in March that he saw encouraging signs in the market, particularly among business travelers.
``Despite dire times, Virgin is doing well,'' Branson said today. ``August will see our highest revenue ever.''
The airline will use the planes to start flights to destinations including Dubai, Mumbai and Rio, Branson said in an interview.
Order Breakdown
Virgin has placed firm orders for 13 planes, which will be delivered between 2006 and 2008. The airline has options on 13 additional aircraft which would be delivered after 2008, said Paul Moore, a spokesman for the airline.
The carrier is 51 percent owned by Branson's private U.K. investment company, Virgin Group, and 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd.
The company in mid-May postponed by 18 months until the end of 2007 delivery of its first Airbus A380 because airports may not be ready to handle the world's largest passenger plane. Virgin has ordered six of the 555-seat planes, which have a list price of $280 million each.