Some years ago, I attended a business luncheon where the main speaker was Branson. He talked about how the airline was launched and the problems with BA - as far as legal eagles allow.
As to the merry japes that he runs he was upfront, he said that he did not particularly like to spend his time making a fool of himself but it was the cheapest publicity he could get. He knows that the press will attend any launch party he appears at. So, he now plans them with the simple objective of getting free publicity, rather than having to pay for it. MoL does the same, but Sir Richard has been doing it longer and is, in my view, the infinitely preferable one of the two. Both in terms of what one sees of him and the airline. The two aspects (the man and the airline) are, of course, closely interlinked.
However, that is not the case with BA. I heartily dislike the chairman, and the past chairman but their airline is superb. However, as a matter of principle, I do not use BA unless their is no choice, which is a pity for all the staff who work so hard.