From today's Sunday Times...
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2"> Branson wants Canadian airline
David Parsley
SIR RICHARD BRANSON is working on plans to launch a
domestic airline in Canada, following on from Virgin Blue in
Australia.
Branson met Canadian government officials three weeks ago to
discuss deregulating the domestic market to allow Virgin to set
up the airline. Canadian law does not allow foreign ownership of
domestic airlines, but Branson is confident of persuading the
government to alter the rules to allow his operation to begin
within two years.
A spokesman for Branson said: "Richard travelled to Canada
last month and negotiated adding Toronto as a destination for
Virgin Atlantic. At the same time he pointed to the problems
created for passengers by the Air Canada and Canadian
Airlines' merger earlier this year, which has seen domestic
travel prices increase."
Two Virgin directors have met David Collenette, the Canadian
transport minister, in London and the talks are said to have
gone well.
Virgin Atlantic will begin flights to Toronto next year and
expects it to take four or five years before the route becomes
profitable.
"The Canadian government came to us to take on the route to
Toronto after price hikes by British Airways and the merged
Canadian airlines," said Branson's spokesman. </font>