Virgin To Expand Fleet And Routes

Sir Richard Branson's reach into the aviation industry is ever so deep, as evidenced by Virgin Atlantic Airways latest expansion plans. The airline announced that plans to order two more A340-600 aircraft, recruit 1,400 staff, add new routes to Cuba and the Bahamas, while expanding capacity on existing routes. The expansion plans for the next year come as Branson, Virgin's Chairman, claims there are encouraging signs commercial aviation is returning to health.

"Virgin Atlantic is entering a period of significant expansion with new routes, more capacity on existing routes and new aircraft," the British billionaire (pictured below), who owns 51 percent of the airline, said in a statement.

Much of the airline industry has taken a financial beating after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the war in Iraq and the deadly SARS virus outbreak. Nevertheless, Branson's positive comments on air travel demand adds to the chorus of other airline and aerospace executives talking about a gradual industry recovery after three years of savage cutbacks. Virgin Atlantic cut 1,200 jobs in September 2001.

Branson said Virgin is optimistic about a recovery in aviation, adding: "London to New York is the touchstone route for business travelers and our performance has been incredibly strong in recent weeks. Across our network as a whole we've seen growth in our premium cabins of over 10 percent year on year."

Branson said Virgin Atlantic's pre tax profit in the financial year to the end of February 2004 was "a little bit better" than the �15.7 million ($29 million) reported for the previous financial year to the end of April 2003.

The airline said it would order two more A340-600 wide-body passenger jets, taking its total order of the 380-seat aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines to 12. Virgin Atlantic, in which Singapore Airlines Ltd owns 49 percent stake, is a launch customer for the A340-600, making the deal particularly important to Airbus. Branson told reporters he expected to complete talks with Airbus and Boeing by the end of the summer for potentially 30 more A340s or Boeing 777s.

"Potentially it could be as much as 30 wide-body planes, even more," Branson said, adding that the aircraft would start entering service in two years and some would be used to replace older A340s.

Branson said Virgin Atlantic would hire up to 1,400 new staff, including pilots, cabin crew, engineers and airports and office staff, over the next year. As many as 300 of those new jobs will be based at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

FMI: www.virgin-atlantic.com