VS 'sister' carrier Air Asia X moves from STN to LGW

Noticed that Air Asia X, the lower fare long haul airline which Virgin Group has a 16% share in, has decided to axe its KUL-STN route in favour for KUL-LGW.

Given the close relationship between SRB and Tony Fernandes and the fact that the Virgin Group has a stake in Air Asia X it will be interesting to see if firstly VS end up whacking a code share on this route (remember back in the day VS code shared with MH into KUL) and secondly if Air Asia X will utilise the CH for its premium cabin and VS/Swissport for its ground handling.

Also assists VS in grabbing some connecting passengers from KUL, granted I am not sure how popular LAS/MCO/BGI is in in the Far East but all helps.

From next year Malaysian (currently a VS partner) will join OneWorld so I would presume VS will be looking for a new partner on the UK-KUL route.
However, Air Asia is a low cost carrier and therefore hard to see how the Y, PE and UC fares would fit in - there may also be big questions about the service on offer as VS is a full service airline.

Could this be a precursor to Virgin Atlantic launching their own alliance with Virgin America, Air Asia, Air Asia X, Virgin Australia and perhaps even Etihad?

After all, VS are weighing up their options with regards to alliances, and Etihad is rumoured to be interested in acquiring the 49% currently owned by SQ.

I follow your thinking here but I can't see how an alliance would work with Air Asia as their business model is totally different to VS. Generally the major alliances are 'alliances of equals' - I cant think of an alliance that has a budget carrier amongst their members.