LAME, where the hell are Ansett going to get millions to run Virgin out of business? Ansett dont have millions, they need millions just to survive themselves ! Good laugh anyway. The latest from Courier Mail web site is
From AAP
04sep01
BRITISH entrepreneur Richard Branson says he has rejected an offer from Ansett to buy his Virgin Blue discount airline.
Sir Richard said he had rejected Ansett's offer, following strong support from a number of key politicans and the travelling public.
"Australians have benefited dramatically since Virgin Blue cut airfares in half over 12 months ago," he said.
"Although we could have walked away with a $250 million net profit on our investment, I felt it would be selling out both the Australian public and our staff."
Rather than sell the cut price carrier, Sir Richard said Virgin Blue would be investing "many millions" in expanding its fleet and establishing new routes.
He said that if Ansett believed that some regional routes in Australia were not viable, Virgin Blue would be happy to assist by offering seats on its own flights.
Sir Richard also said he had spoken at length today with Australian Competition and Consumer Commission head Allan Fels about Virgin Blue's complaints about Qantas' "predatory" practices.
He had also spoken to senior politicans from all major parties.
"I am confident that they appreciate the benefits of lower fares and more competition and will do something after the election to give the authorities more powers to act against the blatant anti-competitive behaviour that was used to drive out Compass, Impulse and hundreds of other small companies in other industries."
Glad he didn't do it, or we would be back to where we started, 2 airlines ripping off the public.
