With a rebound in India-UK-US passenger traffic, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways will relaunch its Mumbai-London flight from Sunday after three years, with convenient onward connections to New York and Washington. However, given that all domestic carriers are bleeding at the moment, Branson is on a wait and watch mode to run a domestic airline in the country.
Branson had said in 2007 that he would love to run a domestic airline in India. “If it is opened up, you will see us competing with Kingfisher and Jet,” he had said. However, since then Virgin Atlantic has had a bumpy relationship with India. The airline withdrew services from Mumbai in 2009 due to an economic downturn and had also threatened to withdraw the service from Delhi.
In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, Richard Branson made it clear that his airline has not expanded in India as the laws are still not favourable. India has a lot more flexibility to open up but has not yet identified clear sectors, he noted. “I can set up a 100 percent company in the US but not In India,” he said.
26/10/12 First Post
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Branson had said in 2007 that he would love to run a domestic airline in India. “If it is opened up, you will see us competing with Kingfisher and Jet,” he had said. However, since then Virgin Atlantic has had a bumpy relationship with India. The airline withdrew services from Mumbai in 2009 due to an economic downturn and had also threatened to withdraw the service from Delhi.
In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, Richard Branson made it clear that his airline has not expanded in India as the laws are still not favourable. India has a lot more flexibility to open up but has not yet identified clear sectors, he noted. “I can set up a 100 percent company in the US but not In India,” he said.
26/10/12 First Post
