Predicts "Spectacular Casualties" In Global Industry

Dire predictions about the continued existence of a number of airlines have become de rigueur these days... with each prognosticator amping up the doom-and-gloom. Problem is... their predictions are probably pretty close to the mark, if not dead center.

Adding to the clamor this weekend was Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire owner of Virgin Atlantic. On Saturday, Branson predicted "spectacular casualties" in the global airline industry... including among carriers in the United States.

"The financial state of the world is just about the worst I've ever known it," Branson told The London Times. "It's getting perilously close to being worse than the 1990s... You have the perfect storm -- you've not only got the banking crisis and the housing crisis, you've got the soaring fuel prices as well.

"One of the big American carriers will almost definitely go," he added. As ANN reported, Virgin America -- an offshoot of Branson's Virgin Group -- launched operations in the United States last August.

Closer to home, Branson also weighed in on the 20-year ownership of Britain's three major airports by BAA... part of Spain's Ferrovial since 2006. Months after a series of unfortunate events, including the bungled opening of British Airways' new Terminal 5 at Heathrow, plagued British air travel for several weeks, the country's Competition Commission is investigating whether BAA is part of the problem.

It's not hard to determine Branson's opinion on the matter. "It's been embarrassing to be British looking at foreigners queuing up to come into the country," he said. "I certainly think that BAA should be broken up. Each individual terminal at Heathrow should be privatized so they can compete against each other. BAA just creams off more and more every year."

Speaking of Heathrow, Branson also confirmed Virgin is interested in purchasing Britain's bmi, which is due to come up for a change of ownership in 2009. The airline controls a number of prized landing slots at Heathrow.

FMI: www.virgin.com, www.baa.com