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Branson looks to the future
Sir Richard Branson has vowed to take on Qantas and “put the heart back into Virgin Blue” as the battle for control of Patrick Corp charges towards a finale.
In Sydney to mark the first anniversary of the first service to Australia of his other airline, Virgin Atlantic, Sir Richard said his long-stalled plans to launch a new Virgin Blue long-haul airline were now predicated on Virgin Group regaining management control of the Patrick-controlled airline.
“If, God forbid, Toll fails in what they are trying to do, my best guess is I’ll have to dig deep in my pockets and get a few other friends and try to find another way of buying out Patrick Corp,” he said.
“I would hope by this time next month we’ll be coming out the end of the tunnel and hopefully headed for victory on this one.”
“We will get in there and take on Qantas head on, and turn Virgin Blue into the formidable competitor to Qantas that we set out to do some years ago.”
The plan would be to merge Virgin Blue and Virgin Atlantic to form a truly International carrier. “People would be able to fly around the world with the same airline if they wanted — from Sydney to LA, from LA to London, from London to Hong Kong, then from Hong Kong back to Sydney,” he said.
He also confirmed that Virgin Blue would use specialised aircraft to combine with Toll and move in to the freight arena.
Graham Muldoon
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