Virgin - 2
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
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Surely two engined jets are less safe? Why did Branson change his mind?
Join Date: May 2002
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I don't want to start a full-on bunfight but I too have heard that there's a bit of trouble at Virgin Atlantic. It comes from someone within the airline and no I won't be naming them. Someone rightly points out that Sir Richard admitted that they would have gone bust had HBOS not been rescued by Lloyds-TSB. I know he was making a point about the current banking situation but there must be some truth to it if the owner said it? The chief at Citibank was telling the staff how things were going great a few Friday mornings ago and in the afternoon was calling the Federal Reserve for emergency cash! It's hard to know the real state of any company from what their press releases say. It's usually a game of 'smoke and mirrors' and especially with a privately owned operation.
Virgin Atlantic are exposed at the moment resulting from open skies, nearby competitors forging strong alliances and the Lufthansa purchase of the second largest slot holder at Heathrow. Tough times indeed for all airlines, let's hope things pick-up next year for everybody.
Virgin Atlantic are exposed at the moment resulting from open skies, nearby competitors forging strong alliances and the Lufthansa purchase of the second largest slot holder at Heathrow. Tough times indeed for all airlines, let's hope things pick-up next year for everybody.
Join Date: Jul 2008
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... Wait until the ex bmi A330s arrive in VS colours! LGW based from MAR 09? 
(Same wing as A340. Could add a couple of environmental friendly cardboard engines on for effect! They did it with the Titanic as the 4th funnel was just for effect so as not to be outdone with only 3 compared to their competitors 4 funnels)
(Same wing as A340. Could add a couple of environmental friendly cardboard engines on for effect! They did it with the Titanic as the 4th funnel was just for effect so as not to be outdone with only 3 compared to their competitors 4 funnels)
Join Date: May 2006
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Silverstreak. Now I am confused! When you talk about VS getting some ex bmi A330's I thought that bmui were using every available a/c they can get for their new route network. But please reassure me that VS are not going to get the A330 that bmi had in their MAN hangar for a while!
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Branson is confirmining talks with LH
Branson will mit Lufthansa kooperieren - Y! Finanzen
Basically Sir B. says talks with LH about cooperation (not take over) are current.
Basically Sir B. says talks with LH about cooperation (not take over) are current.
Cool Mod
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You will, no doubt, have noticed the effect of mods at work deleting rubbish, insults, unsubstantiated drivel and just downright stupidity - including the childish kind!
Cut it out!
Join a sensible and informed debate or just do us a favour and find another site that will accept crap. We will not.
We will not allow any airline to be the subject of someone who thinks they would like to start a scare thread.
AA&R Mods
Cut it out!
Join a sensible and informed debate or just do us a favour and find another site that will accept crap. We will not.
We will not allow any airline to be the subject of someone who thinks they would like to start a scare thread.
AA&R Mods
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Branson in talks with LH
LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Virgin Atlantic, which is interested in buying
bmi, said it is in talks with the British airline's majority owner, Germany's
Lufthansa about the future of the airline.
The news on Wednesday adds another thread to the industry's current wave
of merger mania, coming a week after British Airways and Australia's Qantas
Airways said they were in merger talks to create the world's biggest airline in
an industry desperate to cut costs in the global downturn.
"These discussions may or may not lead to an agreement and a further
announcement will be made in due course," Virgin Atlantic said in a statement.
Its chief executive, Steve Ridgway, told Reuters in October a tie up with
bmi would be a "very compelling opportunity" that would make his airline a
stronger competitor to London Heathrow kingpin British Airways.
Virgin believes its long-haul operations would sit well with bmi's
predominantly short-haul business.
Virgin is particularly interested in bmi's slots at Heathrow which at 12
percent is more than Virgin's 3 percent share but much less than BA which has
over 40 percent.
In October, bmi founder Michael Bishop exercised an option for Lufthansa
to take control of bmi by raising its stake to about 80 percent by buying 50
percent plus one share in bmi from Bishop.
Lufthansa Chief Financial Officer Stephan Gemkow told Reuters in November
that it would consider selling bmi's low-cost carrier bmibaby, although Chief
Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber has said it is not actively looking to sell bmi
assets.
bmi, said it is in talks with the British airline's majority owner, Germany's
Lufthansa about the future of the airline.
The news on Wednesday adds another thread to the industry's current wave
of merger mania, coming a week after British Airways and Australia's Qantas
Airways said they were in merger talks to create the world's biggest airline in
an industry desperate to cut costs in the global downturn.
"These discussions may or may not lead to an agreement and a further
announcement will be made in due course," Virgin Atlantic said in a statement.
Its chief executive, Steve Ridgway, told Reuters in October a tie up with
bmi would be a "very compelling opportunity" that would make his airline a
stronger competitor to London Heathrow kingpin British Airways.
Virgin believes its long-haul operations would sit well with bmi's
predominantly short-haul business.
Virgin is particularly interested in bmi's slots at Heathrow which at 12
percent is more than Virgin's 3 percent share but much less than BA which has
over 40 percent.
In October, bmi founder Michael Bishop exercised an option for Lufthansa
to take control of bmi by raising its stake to about 80 percent by buying 50
percent plus one share in bmi from Bishop.
Lufthansa Chief Financial Officer Stephan Gemkow told Reuters in November
that it would consider selling bmi's low-cost carrier bmibaby, although Chief
Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber has said it is not actively looking to sell bmi
assets.
Join Date: May 2002
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Have been told by a friend at Virgin Atlantic that they're looking at grounding 4 aircraft (10% of their fleet) and possible route closures like Nairobi. It seems that Mr Cellnet was close to the truth after all, what a shame it turned into handbags at dawn with the now quiet Stanstead. All airlines are hurting in the current economic climate, only the ones with economy of scale will stand the best chance of survival.
Join Date: Mar 2007
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CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA.XE) said Thursday that it is not in serious talks with Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. about potential cooperation over British Midland Airways Ltd., or bmi, in which the German airline is in the process of buying a majority stake.
But Lufthansa said it maintains an open mind about potential cooperation with Virgin Atlantic.
The full article is over on the bmi page on this forum, but it seems as if the above posters statement could be a bit off target.....................
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Count Von Altibar,
I have been away, on a trip, flying busy aircraft for VS.
Cellnet is nowhere near the truth. We are in reasonably good shape, entering a massive downturn on top of record profits.
If we ground aircraft, we haven't been told yet.
But, of course you would know better. And Cellnet would DEFINITELY know more.
All airlines are struggling. Should we at VS be any different?
Hope your gloating habit stops soon.
I have been away, on a trip, flying busy aircraft for VS.
Cellnet is nowhere near the truth. We are in reasonably good shape, entering a massive downturn on top of record profits.
If we ground aircraft, we haven't been told yet.
But, of course you would know better. And Cellnet would DEFINITELY know more.
All airlines are struggling. Should we at VS be any different?
Hope your gloating habit stops soon.
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sounds like this is being confused with the 4 a/c that are due major checks back to back effectively reducing the fleet by 1 for a while. I think it also coincides with the 340 being used at MAN as well. Chineese wispers come to mind.
Join Date: May 2002
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Not gloating. Info came from two pilots for guess who? Virgin Atlantic. Just to clarify it was looking at grounding up to 4 aircraft and possible route closures/reduction in frequencies. Also, they both read (from VAA intranet) that no redundancies before January. All airlines are hurting I know and it seems like the above are what's being looked at by management and probably worst case given current operating conditions. Let's hope none of it will happen if things pick up.
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Count,
The company intranet recorded brief and comms statements make no mention of grounding 4 aircraft, so unsure where they got that from!!!
Nothing firm announced, other than we'll pull the odd rotation with light loads, on an adhoc basis, and combine with other flights - sensible me thinks.
You were very quick to jump on Bransons exagerated comment on VS's financial affairs a few months back. I posted our internal comms statement to clear up any misunderstanding, but here you come again....
I'm sure you are familiar with ACBUS 1 and his anti Midland posts on pprune, you seem to be doing much the same with VS, why?
The company intranet recorded brief and comms statements make no mention of grounding 4 aircraft, so unsure where they got that from!!!
Nothing firm announced, other than we'll pull the odd rotation with light loads, on an adhoc basis, and combine with other flights - sensible me thinks.
You were very quick to jump on Bransons exagerated comment on VS's financial affairs a few months back. I posted our internal comms statement to clear up any misunderstanding, but here you come again....
I'm sure you are familiar with ACBUS 1 and his anti Midland posts on pprune, you seem to be doing much the same with VS, why?
Last edited by Tags; 16th Dec 2008 at 23:19. Reason: another subsequent post by the count
Join Date: Sep 2000
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LAS closed with the previous days a/c on the floor at LAX.
Las Vegas Covered In Snow: Winter Storms Coat Sin City In Record Snowfall | World News | Sky News
Las Vegas Covered In Snow: Winter Storms Coat Sin City In Record Snowfall | World News | Sky News
Join Date: Feb 2008
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Does anyone know the reason for VS15 being delayed for 24 hours from yesterday to today?
Just curious as I know someone on that flight.
Credit to Virgin Atlantic, for recovering the flight with no knock on effect to todays Orlando flights btw
Just curious as I know someone on that flight.
Credit to Virgin Atlantic, for recovering the flight with no knock on effect to todays Orlando flights btw
Join Date: Aug 2001
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Not sure why VS15 was delayed, but one of the two LGW - MCO flights uses the incoming LAS aircraft...so an MCO delay one day will not necessarily affect he following days flight...
Just on that point...the LAS flight the other day was badly disrupted due to snow in LAS...maybe this is a knock-on effect?
Just on that point...the LAS flight the other day was badly disrupted due to snow in LAS...maybe this is a knock-on effect?
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Thanks for the reply NWSRG..
I always thought the Orlando route was covered mainly by the cancelled Alitalia 747's with the Nova IFE with the odd other airframe used in case of maintenance.
I always thought the Orlando route was covered mainly by the cancelled Alitalia 747's with the Nova IFE with the odd other airframe used in case of maintenance.
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Yep...there are three batches of VS 747s...
The Alitalia batch, and part of the VS batch share the LGW / MAN routes, while the rest of the VS batch along with the leased ILFC batch (the oldest!) runs the LHR flights...although I stand to be corrected!
Alitalia gets Nova, the other LGW 747s are Odyssey, and the LHR fleet have Vport...I think!
The odd LGW flight is run by a LHR aircraft...to cover for maintenance etc. Always wondered if all three batches (or two bases) had a common flight crew pool...
The Alitalia batch, and part of the VS batch share the LGW / MAN routes, while the rest of the VS batch along with the leased ILFC batch (the oldest!) runs the LHR flights...although I stand to be corrected!
Alitalia gets Nova, the other LGW 747s are Odyssey, and the LHR fleet have Vport...I think!
The odd LGW flight is run by a LHR aircraft...to cover for maintenance etc. Always wondered if all three batches (or two bases) had a common flight crew pool...
Last edited by NWSRG; 21st Dec 2008 at 21:26.