The Times has published Richard Branson’s letter which was sent to Virgin Atlantic cabin crew as they prepare to strike this month.
Virgin Atlantic has never had any handouts and therefore to survive we have to keep our costs under control.
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I’m afraid that those in the union who compare Virgin Atlantic with British Airways are being very unrealistic. It’s like comparing chalk with cheese
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For some of you more pay than Virgin Atlantic can afford may be critical to your lifestyle and if that is the case you should consider working elsewhere. For the vast majority of you, the pay rise you were offered was the best in the industry this year, which is why the union strongly recommended it. I’d urge you not to put at risk our ability to solve this dispute by messing up our customers’ travel plans.
Considering the number of airlines (especially the American ones) that have gone bankrupt in recent years, Branson and his management have drawn the line. Virgin Altantic has suggested that “unhappy workers” should look elsewhere if they want a bigger wage packet.
I have two GOLDEN RULES when it comes to investments;
- Never invest in football teams
- Never invest in Airlines
I broke rule No.2 once…quite sure I didn’t make money on it. As Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, once responded to the question of how to become a millionaire;
Start by being a billionaire and then buy an airline.
I digress. Back to football. By the way, I support Arsenal.
Men, when did Americans begin to love football (called “soccer” in America and Austrialia) so much. First, Malcolm Glazer (owns Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Now Randy Lerner (owns Cleveland Browns American football team).
Today, Aston Villa’s board recommended that shareholders accept Randy Lerner’s bid of £63 million after beating three rival bidders including Michael Neville. A quick scan of the RNS statement shows that Randy Lerner is paying 547p in cash per share. This represents a 47% premium to the share price on the 16 Sept 2005 (not sure why they are using this date as the approach was announced on 1 Sept 2005).
Now look at the share price graph since 1998;
© Selftrade
Ofcourse if you invested in 2003 when everyone else was just recovering from tech bust, you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
The future looks very bright for Aston Villa. Recently appointed Martin O’Neill as the club’s manager with the Lerner promising to make £20 million available for new players.
Read more:
Yankee Invasion Or Lifelong Fan For Villa Park Boardroom?
Sentimentality gets us nowhere, Michael
Maybe airlines should be owned by national governments (tax payers). Ok maybe not, a charity status perhaps. Most airlines are not profitable apart from Ryanair and Emirates. Nevertheless it was very gratifying to learn that Nigerian Airways had been reborn as Virgin Nigeria. A year later, the honeymoon ended with its pioneer CEO, Mr. Simon Harford resigning last week. Of course the fact that the international airport at Lagos has only one functional runway (18L) which is overused and cracking away was probably not a factor. (via)
It seems it is Virgin Group Month here. Yesterday, I posted about Virgin Galactic.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic has entered into a partnership to form a National Carrier to be called ‘Virgin Nigeria‘.
“With the appointment of Virgin, it has been agreed that the new flag carrier will bear the name ‘Virgin Nigeria’ for commercially prudent reason. The airline would be authentically Nigerian, covered by the Virgin brand, which has been quite successful in its various businesses,” Minister of Aviation, Mallam Isa Yuguda
I like the bit that it says commercially prudent. I think the company is begining to see some influx of foriegn, lets hope that is it is the start of a lot more to come.
Even though privately owned, it remains the collective property of the Nigerian nation and people and its existence must be reflective of this fact,” he added. He, however, regretted the unwillingness of Nigerian Airline Operators to respond to earlier invitations to be part of the flag carrier project but expressed hope that they would avail themselves of the new opportunities offered by the coming of Virgin Nigeria.
It is slightly discouraging that the local operators refused to join the venture. Nigeria Airways, the last national carriage before it disappeared had alot of teething problem including bad debt, bad management and entry refusal to certain parts of the world because of political reasons at that time. Richard Branson is more connected and experienced in the aviation industry so having him on board could get Nigeria the National Carriage to be proud of.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has formed Virgin Galactic with the intent to take the average man to Space. It does not come cheap, apparently I will need around £115,000 in the bank before I can speak to Virgin Galactic.
