Branson's airline wants to add routs to Oz, Caribbean, double business in 5 years

Virgin Atlantic Airways said Thursday that is has placed orders and options for 26 Airbus A340-600 long range aircraft -- 13 firm orders and options for another 13. The order is worth an estimated $5.5 billion, and the aircraft are meant to be key to the airline's planned expansion to Australia and the Caribbean.

The order is considered a feather in Airbus' hat, which has been fiercely competing against Boeing for orders. Virgin plans to recruit 1,400 new employees to service new routes to Cuba, the Bahamas and Sydney, as well as expand capacity on existing global travel routes. "We intend to double the size of the airline in the next five years," a Virgin Atlantic spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

The aircraft competing for this order was Boeing's 777. Delivery of the A340's is planned between 2006 and 2008. The book price of the A340-600 is estimated at $240 million, but as is customary in the industry, airline buyers routinely get significant discounts from list price. Virgin has already ordered the Airbus A380 but has delayed entry of that aircraft into its fleet by a year, to late 2007.

Airbus did not confirm the order, but a spokesperson did say that "We are very happy that Richard Branson is expressing interest in our planes but for now we cannot confirm the details."

FMI: www.airbus.com, www.virginatlantic.com