Same article as on the MAN-LAX daily thread, but this highlights the broader comments from Sir Richard Branson about Virgin Atlantic’s plans at MAN, as well as the allusion to MAN-LAX moving to a daily service.
Link and article extracts below:
Sir Richard says, “There is great potential for LA-Manchester. In general, Los Angeles is very important to us.” He noted that Virgin Atlantic has been flying to LA for 30 years and is currently doing 30 flights a week.
Why Manchester for Virgin Atlantic expansion? Sir Richard pointed out, 1/3 of people in England live with two hours. The city, according to Branson, is a hotbed of British entrepreneurship and “the gateway to the North,” with lots of new business.
A spokesperson added that the city is a vibrant cultural center with a lot of affinity with Los Angeles, “growing in food and artistry,” a generous sample of which was on display at the LA event.
Nonetheless, Branson added, “Manchester was a pretty unexciting city if you go back 20 or 30 years. We helped put them on the map.”
The market is reacting very positively to the new route with actual sales, he says.
“Bookings are very strong,” while the move to daily service will make it easy for customers to become aware of it.
Another factor making Manchester an important destination for Virgin Atlantic was the group’s takeover of British regional low-cost carrier Flybe Group. Flybe has a significant short-haul business around the United Kingdom. Just as important, it can potentially feed more passengers onto Virgin Atlantic long-haul flights.
Branson maintains Flybe will be renamed “Virgin something.” The Virgin Group is part of The Connect Airways consortium which also includes a hedge fund and Southend Airport. The group bought the regional airline for just £2.8 million in February.
“The ambition is to build a short-haul feeder airline that can connect with Virgin Atlantic,” noted Branson, clearly still fascinated by the airline business. The former Flybe “has good landing slots in Manchester and elsewhere. It has 76 planes, including DeHavilland and Embraer aircraft.”
Branson says, “We’ll fly from regional airports,” with Manchester perhaps providing an alternate to London airports approaching capacity. There are hints that the strategy might include the acquisition of other struggling British airlines.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.forb ... rvice/amp/
