Sunday Times Interview with SRB

The Sunday Times has interviewed Sir Richard Branson ahead of Virgin Atlantic's 40th Birthday.

The paywall has been lifted this weekend, so it should be free to read for all today:

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/cel ... -lfl9dspwz

Some interesting points, though this does come with the caveat that what SRB says will happen at VS doesn't always come to fruition:

- "Ridiculously good" new seats in Upper are promised

- SRB claims replacing the bar and replacing it with The Loft on new aircraft was "a dreadful mistake. We’ll be bringing back the bar as soon as we possibly can"

- SRB wants VS to return to Gatwick "It matters — it’s where we started. I will twist arms.”

The Sunday Times has interviewed Sir Richard Branson ahead of Virgin Atlantic's 40th Birthday.

The paywall has been lifted this weekend, so it should be free to read for all today:

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/cel ... -lfl9dspwz

Some interesting points, though this does come with the caveat that what SRB says will happen at VS doesn't always come to fruition:

- "Ridiculously good" new seats in Upper are promised

- SRB claims replacing the bar and replacing it with The Loft on new aircraft was "a dreadful mistake. We’ll be bringing back the bar as soon as we possibly can"

- SRB wants VS to return to Gatwick "It matters — it’s where we started. I will twist arms.”

I was just about to post the very same

Edit I added some screen shots but they didn’t load !!!!

"Branson transformed aviation from a high-price, low-quality chicken-or-beef form of travel", he did indeed, he took away the beef

The article is free to read through Instagram. Having flown in the retreat suites recently, I’d be interested to see if they do improve the upper class seats.

Tried copying the link and shared below.

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/cel ... linkin.bio

Brining back the bar is very good news. The loft is a waste of space. Now let’s get the 789s refitted asap.

The Sunday Times has interviewed Sir Richard Branson ahead of Virgin Atlantic's 40th Birthday.

The paywall has been lifted this weekend, so it should be free to read for all today:

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/cel ... -lfl9dspwz

Some interesting points, though this does come with the caveat that what SRB says will happen at VS doesn't always come to fruition:

- "Ridiculously good" new seats in Upper are promised

- SRB claims replacing the bar and replacing it with The Loft on new aircraft was "a dreadful mistake. We’ll be bringing back the bar as soon as we possibly can"

- SRB wants VS to return to Gatwick "It matters — it’s where we started. I will twist arms.”

There needs to be a good business case for returning to LGW, which right now there isn't.

At the minute, with the slots they have a LHR they can cover all their destinations from one London airport and enjoy much better economies of scale. They also enjoy a competitive advantage over BA by flying to some destinations from LHR that BA only do from LGW. Then there's also their current financial position when the priority should be turning that red ink on the balance sheet to black.

I always predicted their return to LGW will come if/when they identify a better use of their LHR slots to more lucrative destinations than say Orlando and the Caribbean. I stand by that prediction.

As for the Loft, if it's that important then surely it's not too late to ensure remaining A330neo/A350 deliveries don't come with it? Or will that affect seat counts which would be a bigger problem for VS operationally.

As you say, what SRB says VS will do and what VS actually does are often two different things. Like with Michael O'Leary at Ryanair though, it gets people talking and is the cheapest form of publicity going.

[mitchja]

Wow, I remember those silver, red & purple J2000 aka bag crusher Upper Class seats (as if you left you bag in the foot well, the seat would crush it when reclined into the slanted flat bed mode).

My first taste of Upper Class was in one of those seats back in 2001 coming back from YYZ to LGW on the VS48 onboard G-VIBE (B742) - the original Dancing Queen.

I surprised he didn't mentioned bringing back IFBT's (in-flight beauty therapists) again as well! As already mentioned; what SRB says and what VS actual do are two very different things!

(the Times is having a free weekend so I guess the linked page will go back behind a paywall tomorrow)

From a purely selfish point of view, I hope they don’t put the leisure routes back to Gatwick - now that BA doesn’t fly there from Edinburgh, the options are severely limited.

And yes, the bar gets a big thumbs up from me, the seats on the A350:are, in my opinion, dreadful but like everyone else mentions, I won’t hold my breath for the changes.

David

From a purely selfish point of view, I hope they don’t put the leisure routes back to Gatwick - now that BA doesn’t fly there from Edinburgh, the options are severely limited.

As there are no MAN-LGW flights these days and having used VS from LHR to destinations that they use to serve from LGW, that is my selfish POV too; though I imagine some of our Sussex/Kent/South Coast-based members will disagree with us!

[mitchja]

Where are the A/C going to come from as well to op from LGW as well as maintaining LHR's current slots?

Noting the comments about what SRB says and what happens are different, it is interesting that the interview was with Shai present too, so it wasn't just Richard being a maverick.

Tinfoil hat time but I do suspect we will see the 333's retained and their leases renewed.

Gatwick makes sense in the medium term, especially for the Bucket and Spade routes where there is little international connecting traffic at this end, although the issues around domestic connections at Gatwick do cause some consternation.

I noticed another interesting quote, about Heathrow, from a different interview with Shai Weiss a few months ago: “I have my eye on Terminal 2. There are possibilities there":

https://www.businesstravelnewseurope.co ... -is-coming

Noting the comments about what SRB says and what happens are different, it is interesting that the interview was with Shai present too, so it wasn't just Richard being a maverick.

Tinfoil hat time but I do suspect we will see the 333's retained and their leases renewed.

Gatwick makes sense in the medium term, especially for the Bucket and Spade routes where there is little international connecting traffic at this end, although the issues around domestic connections at Gatwick do cause some consternation.

I think you are right. I think instead of retiring A333s they will renew leases but have them refurbed to A339 standard. Same with 787s. If they want to expand more in LGW, MAN or LHR they really need the aircraft.

I do not see the bar making a return in current fleet of A339, A350. However; if they refit A333 and 787s they could keep the bar albeit small.

Can't see any info on the additional "party flights" the article suggests are operating on Monday.

Does anyone have timings/equipment/flight numbers?