Branson Applies To Fly America's Friendly Skies
Parmy Olson, 01.19.06, 8:47 AM ET
Richard Branson More On Richard Branson
.boxIDhead { background-color: #336699; color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold; padding:2px;}.boxIDborder { border:1px solid #003366;}.boxIDbordercolor { background-color: #336699;}.boxIDrow { background-color: #ffffff;}.boxIDrow1 { background-color: #ffffff;}.boxIDrow2 { background-color: #efefef;}.boxIDrule { background-color: #cccccc;}.boxIDspace { background-color: #ffffff;} Most Popular Videos Top Topless Beaches Where We Want To Live In 2006 Seagate's Next Move The Gold Rush Move Over, Oscar
Related Quotes AMR 20.07 + 1.36 CAL 18.35 + 1.35 [input] [input]
.boxIDhead { background-color: #003399; color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold; padding:2px;}.boxIDborder { border:1px solid #003399;}.boxIDbordercolor { background-color: #003399;}.boxIDrow { background-color: #ffffff;}.boxIDrow1 { background-color: #ffffff;}.boxIDrow2 { background-color: #efefef;}.boxIDrule { background-color: #cccccc;}.boxIDspace { background-color: #ffffff;} Most Popular Stories The World's Best-Paid Young Celebrities Top Topless Beaches World's Tallest Towers 2006 Where We Want To Live In 2006 Dying at Work
LONDON - British billionaire Richard Branson is a step closer to having his hand in an American domestic airline--just don't make too big a fuss about it, since citizenship can be a sticking point.
Today the start-up carrier Virgin America is making a crucial step towards entering the U.S. domestic market in 2006, as it submits a safety application to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in California.
It's the second half of a two-pronged process, which has already seen the airline submit a filing about its citizenship to the U.S. Department of Transportation last December. It explained that Branson, the founder of the U.K.-based Virgin Group, owned 25% of the business, the maximum holding that federal law permits to foreign investors.
Approval by both authorities would let Virgin fly America's friendly skies as well as play the beleaguered and now cut-throat U.S. airline market. That could be good news for consumers looking for ever-lower fares, but major airlines like AMR (nyse: AMR - news - people ), which will be feeling the pinch of more competition, are bitter. Continental Airlines (nyse: cal - news - people ) and four other major carriers have reportedly asked transport authorities to look more closely into Virgin America's connection to Branson, and have told employees to write in opposition to Virgin's proposal.
A spokesperson for San Francisco-based Virgin America insisted there were no illegitimate ties. "Richard Branson is a minority investor in our airline and does not sit on the board or participate on a day to day basis," Stacy Geagan said. "We are not affiliated with any major airline, including U.K.-based Virgin Atlantic, though we both have the Virgin brand licensed to us for use." It's that crimson Virgin logo which Virgin America Chief Executive Fred Reid hopes to leverage for success in an otherwise troubled market--once all the hubbub about the Branson-connection dies down of course, and who knows when that will be.
More Faces In The News
Roger & Amanda La France