virgin atlantic all-business aircraft
hi found this interesting!
Virgin Atlantic Airways Plans Business-Class Airline (Update1)
By Tracy Alloway and David Mildenberg
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., the U.K. carrier controlled by billionaire Richard Branson, plans to start a business-class airline within the next 18 months that would increase competition for higher-fare travelers.
The new carrier will fly from cities including Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, London and Zurich nonstop to New York and other destinations, the London-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. The new airline will fly under the Virgin brand.
The Virgin entry will compete for corporate travelers with traditional airlines such as British Airways Plc and new business-class carriers such as Silverjet Plc, MAXjet Airlines Inc. and Eos Airlines. Premium travel is the most lucrative for trans-Atlantic airlines, generating about 60 percent of British Airways' sales.
``This is going to create big problems for the legacy carriers because international business travel is where they make their money,'' said George Hamlin, managing director of Airline Capital Associates in Fairfax, Virginia. ``The whole trick for Virgin is making sure their equipment isn't too big.''
Virgin Atlantic has had ``preliminary discussions with a number of manufacturers for an order that could be up to $700 million,'' spokeswoman Brooke Lawer said. She declined to give further details, saying the plans ``are in the earliest stages.''
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The airline controls key landing slots at London's Heathrow airport, the world's busiest international airport, that it might transfer to its new business-class airline, Hamlin said. That would be an edge over Eos, MAXjet and Silverjet, which use London's Stansted or Luton airports.
Virgin Atlantic's plan comes after the U.S. and the European Union in March reached an ``open skies'' agreement that lets carriers fly from any European city to any U.S. destination. British Airways may start all-premium flights between the U.S. and Europe, the Financial Times reported May 19.
The move is separate from Virgin America Inc., a new low- cost carrier backed by Branson. Virgin America last month won final U.S. approval to begin U.S. flights and plans to start New York-San Francisco service later this year after it receives safety permits. Branson's closely held Virgin Group Ltd. put up 25 percent of the initial $177 million investment for Virgin America, plus a $53 million loan.
so what airport do you think they will fly from i guess it will be stansted!