This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ Virgin CEO Wants to Keep Concorde Flying May 8, 2003 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 1:53 p.m. ET LONDON (AP) -- Richard Branson is spending a lot of time these days in his favorite place -- the spotlight. The Virgin Atlantic Airways CEO swooped into Iraq last week with a 747 full of medical supplies and said he might consider starting commercial flights from London to Baghdad and Basra. Now, in another gambit guaranteed to make headlines, the brash tycoon is styling himself as the savior of the iconic, supersonic Concorde jet, which Virgin's bitter competitor British Airways recently announced it was retiring. Branson says the needle-nosed plane -- also being put to rest by Air France, the only other airline to fly it -- is a beautiful symbol of Britain and deserves to remain aloft. He claims Virgin Atlantic, which he started in the 1980s as a direct challenge to British Airways, may be able to make the Concorde more profitable. ``Concorde is a great ambassador (for) Britain and should be in the air and not broken up and sold,'' he has said. But Branson's bid to operate the world's only supersonic jet might never take off. British Airways says its Concordes aren't for sale. The government, after some initial encouragement, has refused Branson's request to intervene. And Airbus, which services the planes, says high costs make it unrealistic to continue doing so. Still, the bid has brought the flamboyant Branson, 52, another chance to tweak his rival. Competition between the two carriers has long been nasty and highly personal -- they have fought in court and Virgin's ads gleefully needle British Airways. Branson accuses British Airways of refusing to sell because it's afraid he'll make the supersonic jet a success. He says he'd divide the Concordes into two classes -- first, with prices likely higher than those of British Airways, and standard, with cheaper tickets than are now available. He hasn't announced any details of his plans or prospective fares. A roundtrip London-New York ticket on the Concorde now costs, on average, about $12,800. Virgin Atlantic has suffered along with the rest of the airline industry since Sept. 11, 2001. Branson pared flights by 20 percent just days after the terrorist attacks and his airline lost 92 million pounds ($147 million) before taxes in the 2001-2002 fiscal year. Things now seem to be looking up. Virgin has boosted service again and recently reported a 10 million pound ($16 million) pretax profit for the fiscal year that ended last month. But it's unclear whether the airline can afford a pricey project like the Concorde. Branson believes he may be able to fly it at a profit but has reportedly also said he'd even do so at a loss, just for the prestige. David Learmount, operations and safety editor for Flight International magazine, said the aging Concorde -- it dates to the 1960s -- was getting so expensive to maintain that it would be nearly impossible to run profitably. ``Sir Richard is very keen to see Concorde flying again, but it's not going to happen,'' he said. British Airways and Air France said last month they planned to ground the planes for good, the French carrier by May 31 and the British in late October. Steve Double, a spokesman for British Airways, said the airline's decision to mothball its Concordes was final and that it would not sell them to Branson. ``It's part of the fabric of British Airways,'' he said. ``We've already been in correspondence over this with Virgin Atlantic and we made our position clear. ... It's clearly a nonstarter.'' Double said British Airways was talking to aviation museums interested in taking custody of the sleek jets. Air France said it cannot sell its Concordes to Virgin because it also plans to turn them over to museums. Despite the aircraft's prestige and speed, filling its seats grew increasingly difficult because of the global economic downturn and the impact of the Sept. 11 attacks on trans-Atlantic travel. Moreover, a July 2000 crash near Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport killed 113 people and severely tarnished the Concorde's safety record. Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt told Branson this week that it was not the government's place ``to make a decision on either the cessation of Concorde services or the disposal of the aircraft concerned,'' her department said. Undeterred, Branson said he plans to speak to Prime Minister Tony Blair. ``We will mount the strongest campaign we can for the next few months,'' he told journalists traveling with him on the Caribbean island of Grenada. Virgin says government loans and subsidies mean British Airways effectively paid just 2 pounds ($3.20) for its seven Concordes when the airline was privatized in the 1980s and may be legally obligated to resell them to any willing British buyer. British Airways chairman Lord Marshall refutes that, saying the carrier paid 155 million pounds ($248 million) for the Concorde fleet and has invested more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in it since. Branson's Virgin group began as a record label, and now sells everything from soft drinks to bridal gowns, and even runs a train service and mobile phone network. The tycoon is an expert at getting attention for himself and his company and has won extensive publicity with his ballooning. He was the first to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by balloon and made several attempts to be the first balloonist to circumnavigate the world without stopping. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Bransons-Moment.html?ex=1053418875&ei=1&en=cd077e9752021642 HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company