I think Tax paying public are fed up with getting screwed over by big business.
Every 10 yrs or so they foot the bill to save these game players who irresponsibly over inflate values of companies, banks , markets etc etc and then suffer subsequent decades of austerity , reduced public service and transport standards , curtailed health benefits , reduced infrastructure etc etc . Meanwhile the top 1% get richer ....
This time I hope businesses go bust , downsizing occurs in banking sectors and there needs to be meaningful implementation of fiscal controls to limit ridiculous over valuation of equity markets.
The rich are living well beyond OUR abilities ..... their greed needs to be put in check .... No more paying for this system , it doesnt work for the people .!!!

Well put. 👍🏽

Well what does this political statement have to do with the subject thread title? It sounds like a broad paint brush on any wall in its way

When I was in Sq I remember the bearded one coming over to flog 49% despite never really making a profit and getting around £620 million for it.Was the worst investment ever for Sq. They made a huge loss when they eventually flogged it I seem to remember.

The bearded one is not to be trusted, look at how he's just let Flybe slide. I say no state aid to his companies until he's coughed up some of his own wealth and showed willing. His operations have always been a smoke and mirrors charade.

ambidextrous
 

Menny moons ago, Peter Sellers stared in "I'm All Right Jack", as relevent now as it was then!

Over the Last five years, Richard (Rupert) Branson has asked the Government for a bailout of £7.5 Billion to help deal with effects of coronavirus. This is from a man who is not resident in the UK, owns his own Ireland in the Caribean, is worth a reputed £4.5 Billion, doesn't pay any tax and is not known as helping the NHS or State schools.
But he does enjoy expensive "toys" we hear.
Richard (Rupert) Branson has further asked the Goverment for a bailout of £2 Billion when Virgin Rail walked away from the East Cost Mainline contract, five years early.
It goes on! Rupert demanded £2.2 million from the NHS for not being given an NHS contract to Virgin Care.
Rupert paid £2.2 million towards a consortium in January to buy Flybe which collapsed in March!

But, if these entrepreneurs were not around, who would employ us pilots ?

Well said Lionel. This forum is, allegedly, for professional pilots and yet to see the number of nasty and vitriolic comments about a company that provides employment for the best part of 1000 pilots is deplorable. Why these detractors want to see Virgin fail is indicative of their twisted logic that they think it will hurt a successful businessman that they have issues with.

In reality it will hurt the rank and file employees. Not just the pilots but the cabin crew, check in staff, engineers, support staff and the list goes on. It will impact the all the other airport staff that support the operation from ATC to caterers and cleaners. It’s gut wrenching to see any company fail and especially when good friends lost their jobs such as at Monarch.

However, there is a huge difference between the companies that failed before, as sad as that was, and the likes of Virgin, BA, easyJet etc. These are, or were, successful companies providing jobs to the aviation industry. This crisis is not like anything seen before and so it is quite right that they lobby the government for support. I have no idea how this would work but I imagine it might be a loan or equity stake perhaps. For those of you that have an urgent need to keep trolling perhaps find another website to spew your poison onto. Just a thought.

What a load of rubbish people write on here… it’s incredibly sad to see people wanting to see an iconic British airline fail because they heard or made up incorrect facts about SRB and Virgin, I’m guessing many of you are Daily Mail readers or believe D. Trump too much.

Virgin Atlantic has been providing innovate idea’s in the whole global airline industry since the start of VAA, from being the first to introduce In-Flight Entertainment to the first flat beds onboard. They are the David of the David vs Goliath story with BA. Without VAA always snapping at BA’s heels, BA would be an awful airline, they need that healthy competition to keep innovation and keep pushing to provide fantastic service for their customers.

Virgin Atlantic only has about 45 aircraft compared to BA’s 280 ish.. and they hardly make any profit, so for people to say that SRB is a tax con are deluded. If you were in his position, wouldn’t you move to the BVI’s if you constantly had nasty people and press constantly putting you down. They aren’t asking for a bail out but rather a loan, so again its not a burden on tax payers.



Have you thought about all the corporation tax his companies pay and that he has created jobs for over 71,000 people globally? It’s more than anyone on this forum can say. It’s such a cut throat industry and to make any profit is bloody hard especially when you're up against BA who has had everything handed to them on a plate by the government. I’m not against BA but you need people like SRB to break the mould and think outside the box and keep big corporations like BA in check and not runaway with the market share.

Be a positive person and strive for success in British industries, not failure. Check your facts before you write rubbish please.

I worked with VS for many years. Twice the airline was nearly crushed by circumstances. First, the infamous British Airways “sabotage” and then 9/11 lockdown. There were several other times when times were hard and only today it is reported SRB has added $250m. It is a drop in the aviation ocean of course with the AA ceo saying it is the worst crisis for aviation ever and most others grounding their aircraft in staggering numbers.
Like vegemite which one either likes or hates, SRB is seen in that light.
Those who have no idea of the contents of his wallet make fatuous comments which are to be expected of course. Against all the odds stacked against him and those who work for him the airline has carved a place and in its own way effectively competes against a monopolistic leviathan in some areas of the aviation market.

If any airline wants Government aid/help then that airline should not pay any dividends out for say 2 years from 1 Jan this year, and also the Government should take some shares in that airline.

Personally, I hope the UK taxpayer doesn't send a penny to any of the UK airlines after the fuss most of them made about Flybe getting a mere 100M in relief, what goes around comes around ;)

So you’d rather 8000+ people lose their jobs?! Nice one 🤬

No, id rather no one lost their jobs, but as was stated many times by many Airline CEO's and the public, "taxpayers money shouldn't be used to bail out billionaires"... Of course now its ok to use it because the big boys are hemorrhaging cash and they want protections. You cant have your cake and eat it mate

Easy and BA have deep pockets, they need to use that first

So yes I stand by what I said and hope they don't get a penny

After all this people will be concerned with food and shelter.....not flying on aeroplanes.....the economic fall out is going to be planet changing.

80000 people in Australia lost their jobs today at 12.00 pm. All bars, restaurants, clubs, gyms, cinemas .. you name it were ordered to shut. Thousands lined up to claim welfare payments.

When we come out the other side of this, things are going to be very different.

Indeed - it is mind-boggling to realise how many millions of people will be driven into abject poverty in the name of extending the lives of a few very old and/or chronically ill people by a few months.

Surely at some point people will wake up to what's going on and say "Enough!"?

Politically it's very difficult for the government to say "Sorry, nothing we can do. Good luck if you catch it."

Quite understandably, nobody wants to make that call, so we're in a situation where essentially the government is trying to buy time while hoping for a miracle (i.e. much quicker than expected progress towards a vaccine and/or a drug therapy that's proven to be effective.) People will only tolerate lockdown measures for a finite (and short) period of time.

Well said, I am getting tired of people offering endless criticisms of what SRB should pr shouldn't do. Healthy competition is good for all. Remember the days before the LCC's and High end carriers came on the scene. We paid flag carrier prices for LCC services. Do we really want to return to those days???