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Virgin Atlantic, the British airline owned by tycoon Richard Branson, said on Friday that it was in talks about forming a consortium that would bid for London’s second biggest airport, Gatwick.

Analysts have estimated that the sale of Gatwick could fetch up to three billion pounds (3.48 billion euros, 4.42 billion dollars).

Britain’s Spanish-owned airport operator BAA announced in September plans to sell London’s Gatwick hub after regulators called for the offloading of two of its airports on competition grounds.

source: AFP

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic is set to launch a major advertising campaign to challenge British Airways’ (BA) plans for a tie-up with American Airlines (AA). Branson claims that the proposed deal would damage transatlantic competition.

BA is expected to make an application in the US this week to enact the joint venture with AA. The pact between the two airlines would mean they would have dominant shares of transatlantic flights from Heathrow on six routes including New York JFK, Chicago and Los Angeles.

source: marketingweek.co.uk

Passengers who flew across the Atlantic between August 2004 and March 2006 with British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic are entitled to a refund as part of a £100 million settlement pending in California.

The deal was struck by American lawyers in US courts but the lion’s share – £73.5million – has been reserved for British passengers.

That equates to a refund of between £4 and £20 for each return ticket and up to £10 for a one-way ticket. Frequent flyers and corporate customers could pick up hundreds of pounds.

The refund applies not only to transatlantic flights but to any long haul journey operated by the airline between the specified period.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Virgin Atlantic claimed yesterday it was still boosting sales in the aftermath of the troubled Terminal 5 opening, with passenger numbers rising 6% last month.

The airline will announce today that it is hiring 100 extra cabin crew as it adds an extra flight to its daily London-to-Hong Kong service.

Virgin Atlantic said it was seeing strong sales on services to the Caribbean and the US despite a downturn in consumer confidence and rising fuel surcharges, driven by the high oil price.

source: Guardian.co.uk

It could be one of his most ambitious projects yet. Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson, one of Britain’s most prominent entrepreneurs, said Thursday that his firm was in talks with local partners to establish a new Russian airline, one of several possible new ventures.

Virgin is in talks with “two or three” local carriers and expects to make an announcement about a new partner in the next three months, Branson told reporters at an investment conference in Moscow.

source: The Moscow Times

Virgin Atlantic said Monday it would fly one of its Boeing 747 planes on biofuel during a demonstration flight from London to Amsterdam next month.

Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson said the test flight, which he called the first of its kind, would yield crucial information on how to reduce aviation’s carbon footprint.

Branson launched an alternative fuels division at Virgin in 2006, pledging the profits from his airline and trains for 10 years.

source: Business Week

A strike by Virgin Atlantic cabin crew, which would have seen 48-hour walkouts this week and next, has been called off.

The deal between the airline and the trade union, Amicus, will see the crew get a 4.8 per cent pay increase this year and a guarantee of a rise in line with inflation next year.

But the agreement came too late for the airline to reinstate the flights it had cancelled – with Virgin having already made alternative arrangements for those passengers affected.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Sir Richard Branson has angered Virgin Atlantic staff who are threatening to strike by telling them they should “consider working elsewhere”.

The entrepreneur, estimated to be worth £3.1 billion, told 4,800 cabin crew in a letter that he would not meet their pay demands. He said: “For some of you, more pay than Virgin Atlantic can afford may be critical to your life-style and if that is the case you should consider working elsewhere.”

Union members have voted to stage 48-hour strikes on January 9-10 and January 16-17.

Sir Richard said he had drawn a line in the sand in the dispute with staff belonging to the Unite union, which is embroiled in separate negotiations with BAA, the airports operator.

source: Times OnLine

More than 3,000 cabin crew working for Virgin Atlantic have started balloting on industrial action in a wages dispute.

The result of the ballot, being conducted by Unite – the union formed following the merger of the TGWU and Amicus – will be announced on Dec 20.

If the Virgin crew vote for industrial action, a stoppage would be most likely to take place in January and could coincide with another proposed walkout by the 5,000 Unite members working for airport operators BAA.

They have threatened industrial action in protest at plans to axe the company’s final salary pension scheme for new staff.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

British billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Group is touted to be taking a stake in Malaysia’s new AirAsia long-haul budget airline.

Branson will take a 20 pct stake in Fly Asian Express (FAX), teaming up with Asia’s aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes to run flights from Malaysia to China, Europe and Australia, the newspaper reported, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.

source: Forbes