Branson considers second airline

[Wirraway]

"Weekend Australian". .. .Branson considers second airline. .. .March 03, 2002. .VIRGIN founder Sir Richard Branson is considering setting up a second discount airlines in Australia, it was reported today.. .. .The British tycoon said he hoped his original Australian airline, Virgin Blue, would eventually become a true rival to Qantas, which becomes Australia's sole full-service airline at midnight tomorrow night.. .. .Virgin Blue has previously indicated its rapid expansion meant it would be hiring 1000 extra staff by the end of this year, with preference given to former Ansett employees.. .. ."In time we want to be a true alternative to Qantas on as many domestic routes as possible," Sir Richard reportedly told The Age from his retreat in the Virgin Islands.. .. ."We could at some stage set up another airline with smaller planes to fill in the gaps.". .. .Sir Richard also said Virgin Blue executives were debating whether or not to purchase Ansett's old terminals.. .. .He said the fledgling airline needed to keep its costs down in order to continue delivering cheap flights.. .. ."The kind of offers we have had over the last two years you will certainly continue to get over, hopefully, the next 10 years," he told the newspaper.. .. .Sir Richard also revealed Virgin's airline analysts found a $100 million blowout in the Ansett rescue bid put forward by Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew.. .. ."At least they tried," he said of the businessmen who backed out of the deal to buy Ansett last Tuesday.. .. ."It's easy to criticise people who try things and fail."

[Wirraway]

Mon "The Australian". .. .Branson considers Virgin float. .By Richard Gluyas, National business correspondent and Iain Payten . .March 04, 2002. .. .INFRASTRUCTURE funds are expressing interest in the assets of Ansett, which takes its last flight tonight, as it emerged yesterday that Virgin boss Richard Branson was considering a float of his Australian airline.. .. .Sir Richard was weighing up a Virgin Blue float this year after his adviser, Goldman Sachs, valued the airline at $1.5 billion, according to a report in the Sunday Times.. .. .The Goldman Sachs advice to Sir Richard was that plans to float Virgin Blue next year should be brought forward to the fourth quarter of this year to capitalise on the Ansett collapse. Virgin Blue is expected to report $27.5 million profit for 2001, with earnings this year expected to be $82.5 million.. .. .It comes as Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon, whose airline is the subject of an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation over alleged anti-competitive behaviour, yesterday accused the ACCC of seeking to regulate "Qantas out of existence".. .. .Ansett's administrators, Andersen, are preparing to lay off most of the remaining 3000 staff ahead of the airline's final flight, from Perth to Melbourne arriving early tomorrow morning.. .. .The interest, centred on the Sydney terminal, from infrastructure funds will be welcomed by the administrators, who have already renewed contact with Patrick Corp boss Chris Corrigan.. .. .Mr Dixon said on the Nine Network yesterday that Qantas had an impeccable record and just because contrary claims were made by Impulse, Virgin Blue or a "crippled" Ansett, it did not make those allegations true.. .. .Asked what he thought ACCC chairman Allan Fels would do about Qantas's market dominance, he said: "I think he would probably try and pull us back to such an extent that we will be regulated out of existence.". .. .Professor Fels said he was puzzled by Mr Dixon's comments, given that the ACCC had never proposed regulating Qantas's prices, or advocated industry-specific regulation as for Telstra.. .. .It also emerged yesterday that baggage belonging to Paula Fox, wife of failed Ansett bidder Lindsay Fox, went missing after she left on a Singapore Airlines flight for Europe last Thursday.. .. .The bags were returned to Melbourne yesterday and will be despatched to Austria, where Mr Fox and his wife are scheduled to take a ski holiday.. .. .Yesterday, perched at the "blast fence" vantage point, a row of planespotters – or aviation enthusiasts, as they are known – was taking the chance to catch a last glimpse of the blue-tailed jets moving in and out of Sydney Airport.. .. ."It is very sad – they've been around for over 60 years and to be wound up after such a long time . . ." said Steve Axam, pausing to watch AN249 from Brisbane touch down on runway 25.. .. .Ansett's last flight, the red-eye from Perth, will touch down in Melbourne at 6.05am tomorrow.. .. .Tonight, however, Ansett staff finishing their last shifts plan to gather in most cities and send off the airline with a few wakes.