request deferred
Agree with your post. In addition, Virgin Atlantic is doing very nicely on the London-Shanghai route and has extensively lobbied the British Government to prevent any new operators on the route - in particular Qantas, despite being given rights Hong Kong to Sydney. Their lobbying has been very successful to the extent that the recent Open Skies agreement between Britain and Australia had one significant exclusion ie routes via China to Britain.
Branson would have to be the best spin doctor in the world.