Swashplate,
Evidently you have never taken a business course in your life - and you are devoid of any business acumen. Attractive industries have what are called "entry barriers" to protect margins - otherwise, what would induce someone like Branson to come in and invest a lot of time and money on an entrepreneurial effort - where would the investment payback come from if random players could enter and exit an industry at will? Think about it...
Hmmmmmm. Why would Richard Branson try to thwart attempts to add capacity to the lucrative trans-Atlantic runs? Maybe its because he has a fiduciary duty to maximize profits, and adding capacity (more seats in a given market) would likely reduce yields for everyone. How many airlines serve the NYC-London market already? Maybe 5-6 including token flights for Air India and Kuwait Airways. The airline business is expensive to operate in, as we all know, especially with soaring fuel costs. Virgin provides an excellent product/service, and that is expensive. Shouldn't Virgin's management be concerned about protecting their yields/margins? Isn't that what business is all about - profit maximization?
Sure - I know what you and others are going to say: Richard Branson plays the "consumer advocate" and claims to be doing the public a big service by keeping fares low. He must be a greedy hypocrite... Well, if yields are TOO low, Virgin pilots will be jobless or paid significantly less (we know Virgin salaries are already anemic from other threads).
I bet Swashplate is a socialist - or at least he holds the view that "big business" is EVIL... You find that same opinion is ubiquitous in Europe. Hey, without big business, many of us would be jobless - keep that in mind. It wouldn't hurt for Swashplate and others to familiarize themselves with some basic airline-industry economics before they shoot their mouths off with unsubstantiated comments and anti-business rhetoric. It gets tiresome to read that drivel - it's like a broken record sometimes.
By the way, I saw a Global Express a few days ago as it launched out of Dulles Airport - wouldn't mind sitting in the sharp end of that bird! Good luck Virgin pilots - I'd be envious!!!!!
Cheers