Is Sir Richard on a spending spree?
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Is Sir Richard on a spending spree?
from thisislondon.co.uk
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Branson moves his flights up a notch by Robert Lea
Sir Richard Branson is in talks with Canadian executive aircraft maker Bombardier in a bid to launch a business class-only airline, Virgin Jet-Set, by the autumn of 2002.
Branson, in Toronto for the inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic to the Canadian city, will today meet Bombardier executives to discuss taking delivery of executive jets for new services to North America.
While Branson is also negotiating with Boeing and Airbus, he said "serious talks" were taking place with Bombardier for jets that would seat 20 business travellers.
"It would be good to buy Canadian while we are in Canada," Branson said. Bombardier is building Virgin Trains' 125mph Voyager rolling stock for its CrossCountry routes across Britain.
Branson envisages using secondary airports such as Biggin Hill outside London. He said he would like to launch business-class services to cities such as Seattle and Philadelphia, as well as to New York, to augment Virgin Atlantic's current services.
He said using executive jets could shave journey times by half an hour - and Jet-Set would provide limousines to get travellers to city centres.
Of Virgin Atlantic's new services to Toronto, he said he expected to lose $50 million (£36.47 million) in the first year but to break even within four years.
He expects to launch services to Vancouver within three years, adding that he would also like to take a crack at the Canadian domestic market if regulators will allow. "It is felt the quality of Air Canada, which controls 80% of the market, is not exactly wonderful," he said. "It is said that competition in Canada has disappeared. That is not good for the travelling public."
Speaking after a Press conference in Toronto, he vigorously denied that using Virgin Atlantic as collateral to raise money for new ventures put him in hock to bankers.
He said he had pledged Virgin Atlantic shares with Lloyds TSB to raise cash for his health club ventures in South Africa and Britain and for Virgin's entry into North America's mobile phones market.
"Borrowing from the banks is cheap. We have been pledging shares in our businesses to do so since I was 16," he said.
He added he could raise further cash for the Virgin empire by selling stakes in his 100-owned companies such as Australia's Virgin Blue airline. </font>
Sir Richard Branson is in talks with Canadian executive aircraft maker Bombardier in a bid to launch a business class-only airline, Virgin Jet-Set, by the autumn of 2002.
Branson, in Toronto for the inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic to the Canadian city, will today meet Bombardier executives to discuss taking delivery of executive jets for new services to North America.
While Branson is also negotiating with Boeing and Airbus, he said "serious talks" were taking place with Bombardier for jets that would seat 20 business travellers.
"It would be good to buy Canadian while we are in Canada," Branson said. Bombardier is building Virgin Trains' 125mph Voyager rolling stock for its CrossCountry routes across Britain.
Branson envisages using secondary airports such as Biggin Hill outside London. He said he would like to launch business-class services to cities such as Seattle and Philadelphia, as well as to New York, to augment Virgin Atlantic's current services.
He said using executive jets could shave journey times by half an hour - and Jet-Set would provide limousines to get travellers to city centres.
Of Virgin Atlantic's new services to Toronto, he said he expected to lose $50 million (£36.47 million) in the first year but to break even within four years.
He expects to launch services to Vancouver within three years, adding that he would also like to take a crack at the Canadian domestic market if regulators will allow. "It is felt the quality of Air Canada, which controls 80% of the market, is not exactly wonderful," he said. "It is said that competition in Canada has disappeared. That is not good for the travelling public."
Speaking after a Press conference in Toronto, he vigorously denied that using Virgin Atlantic as collateral to raise money for new ventures put him in hock to bankers.
He said he had pledged Virgin Atlantic shares with Lloyds TSB to raise cash for his health club ventures in South Africa and Britain and for Virgin's entry into North America's mobile phones market.
"Borrowing from the banks is cheap. We have been pledging shares in our businesses to do so since I was 16," he said.
He added he could raise further cash for the Virgin empire by selling stakes in his 100-owned companies such as Australia's Virgin Blue airline. </font>
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Don't know how much money he has left but it certainly sounds like a clever idea to me. Fullfare-Tickets have become so expensive on some routes these days that you are cheaper off chartering yourself a jet for just 6 pax sometimes. Why not compete for segments of that growing business? Think many airlines will consider similar concepts.
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I'm no major admirer of Sir Dickie (bit too many smoke 'n mirrors for my liking - anyone see the report over the weekend that he has just 'mortgaged' Virgin Atlantic to his bankers?) but youve got to admire his PR abilities. To my knowledge, at least one of the US majors has been running a 'hire a bis jet' franchise for a few months, and Big Airways has just set up a similar scheme a couple of months back. Not a lot of that in the media 
One thing you can be sure - it wont be him spending any money - see Virgin Finance (ie Norwich Union) etc etc etc
One thing you can be sure - it wont be him spending any money - see Virgin Finance (ie Norwich Union) etc etc etc
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Nothing wrong with borrowing money capn black, although he did say a couple of years back that if he had to do this he would have 'lost' (his words not mine). As I say, you cant knock his abilities (and he has carried off a b****y difficult job in setting up an admired and popular airline), but things are not all they may seem with the virgin empire, thats all.
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What on earth did Sir Dickie do with the over 600 million Pounds ie $840 million he got from SIA for 49% of Virgin. Pretty astute deal as within months Virgin were forcasting lower profits which turned out to be 60% lower at 46.2 Million Pounds!!
What with Air NZ shares now worth half what SIA paid for them does this make them pretty bad at investing their money elsewhere???
They now seem hell bent on making it three in a row by wanting to take on Ansett, but as Flight said they have so much money sloshing about in their coffers they do not know what to do with it!!
What with Air NZ shares now worth half what SIA paid for them does this make them pretty bad at investing their money elsewhere???
They now seem hell bent on making it three in a row by wanting to take on Ansett, but as Flight said they have so much money sloshing about in their coffers they do not know what to do with it!!
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The Gypsy,
The money he got from SQ was gone within days to retire debt that he had with the banks according to Bower's book on the great man.
The net result is that he now longer has the cash cow that he did with VA as he now also has to answer to SQ and they may want the money reinvested in the airline.
Which probably explains why he is now out borrowing at the levels he is.
As for the sale being astute, that will depend on why the profit forecasts have been reduced. If SQ paid what they did based on information that wasn't exactly cosher ( and I'm not suggesting it is as I don't know), then I would hate to be in the gun with SQ as I'm sure they won't let it rest.
It may of course just be the competative environment at the moment and bad timing.
[This message has been edited by Rudder (edited 16 June 2001).]
The money he got from SQ was gone within days to retire debt that he had with the banks according to Bower's book on the great man.
The net result is that he now longer has the cash cow that he did with VA as he now also has to answer to SQ and they may want the money reinvested in the airline.
Which probably explains why he is now out borrowing at the levels he is.
As for the sale being astute, that will depend on why the profit forecasts have been reduced. If SQ paid what they did based on information that wasn't exactly cosher ( and I'm not suggesting it is as I don't know), then I would hate to be in the gun with SQ as I'm sure they won't let it rest.
It may of course just be the competative environment at the moment and bad timing.
[This message has been edited by Rudder (edited 16 June 2001).]
