Virgin Atlantic's inaugural flight to Australia arrives in Sydney

The Australian

ENTREPRENEUR Richard Branson wants to fly flagship international airline Virgin Atlantic to Australian cities beyond Sydney, eventually introducing giant A380 double-decker planes on key routes.

Despite admitting the airline did not expect its new London to Sydney route to be profitable for “three or four years”, he is already looking at Melbourne and Brisbane as potential destinations.

He told reporters covering the arrival yesterday of Atlantic’s inaugural flight to Australia that he hoped to introduce Boeing 747s and then A380s on the Sydney route, with smaller planes flying to “one or two other cities”.

“I would hope that within the next couple of years … we would get permission to do maybe Hong Kong-Melbourne flights,” he said. “We’ve now got our foot in the door and generally speaking after Virgin puts its foot in the door we try to prise it open.”

Sydney is Atlantic’s 23rd destination, realising a long-held ambition by the flamboyant Englishman. It is part of a strategy of growing the airline by 10 to 15 per cent each year.

The British carrier enters the local market as a top-tier airline, concentrating its efforts selling its well-regarded premium economy and business products. But Sir Richard said 800 additional seats a day to Hong Kong stemming from Atlantic’s arrival, as well as flights added by Qantas and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, would put pressure on prices on the so-called kangaroo route.

Virgin would do “whatever it takes” to fill seats, he said.

Sir Richard said it would be tougher for Virgin Atlantic to compete in Australia if Qantas and British Airways were allowed to continue to collude on fares through their joint services agreement.

“They are allowed to sit in dark rooms and work out how can they take passengers for a ride,” he said. “It’s absolutely incredible that the Australian competition authorities allow them to collude on price.”

The airline has urged the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to reverse a decision to extend the agreement and expects to hear next week whether it has been successful.