Branson and the new Blue: ETA Wednesday
Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson will schmooze into Sydney on Wednesday to splash a bit of stardust on the rebranding of Virgin in Australia.
Virgin Blue started operations from its Brisbane base in 2000 with backing from Sir Richard of just $10 million, but has been unable to use the Virgin brand on any new venture flying international routes after an undertaking he gave to Singapore Airlines when it purchased half of Virgin Atlantic in 2000.
That promise has meant that Virgin Blue subsidiary airline connecting Australia and the US is called V Australia and the 737s connecting Australia with Bali, Phuket, Thailand, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific islands are flown under the name Pacific Blue.
Virgin under new boss, ex-Qantas deputy John Borghetti, has been reinventing itself to attract business travellers on its Australian services.
It has introduced live in-flight TV, valet parking, and soon business class on two new Airbus A330 wide bodies flying three Sydney-Perth services a day.
Ian Jarrett
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