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United States
Asia Pacific
V is for victory, but not for SIA
BRISBANE – If there was one carrier that had reason to be less than excited by Virgin Blue’s announcement that it will launch services between Australia and the United States it was Singapore Airlines.
SIA has been the bridesmaid on this route, its attempts to be allowed to fly to the US from Australia’s east coast consistently rejected by the Australian authorities, supported by Qantas.
What makes the approval of the Virgin flights so galling for SIA is that it owns 49 per cent of the Richard Branson founded Virgin Atlantic.
SIA did have one small victory however. The new Australian long haul carrier will be called V Australia because SIA has the right to veto the use of the Virgin name outside Australia.
The new airline, which will incorporate a refashioned Australian flag, would probably revert to Virgin Australia should SIA decide that enough is enough and sell out of Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin has received Australian regulatory approval to fly 10 services a week to the US, as long as the airline launches before November 30 next year. The airline is now awaiting approval from US regulators.
Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey said that if V Australia does not get approvals for all 10 US services it may turn its attention to Asia.
by Ian Jarrett
Ian Jarrett
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