SIR RICHARD BRANSON-owned airlines will not go down the road of unbundling air fares, the billionaire tycoon has said. Branson was being interviewed on stage at the NBTA convention in Houston where the subject of airlines' ancillary revenues has been high on the agenda. "For me all the amenities available [on an aircraft] are absolute essentials," he said. "It's only when accountants get involved and start to look at ways to make cuts that this happens, and then a company is doomed to failure."
Earlier, Continental Airlines' chief executive Jeff Smisek told NBTA delegates he believed unbundling air fares was "the right thing to do" because it meant passengers were not subsidising each other depending on, for example, how many bags they were checking into the hold. But Branson, who owns Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America and V Australia, said: "If we cut leg room, take out stand-up bars and pull limousine services that take our premium passengers to and from the airport, then we'd just become the same as any other airline." The entrepreneur went on to say he was optimistic about the future of the aviation sector, and encouraged corporates not to "wait and see what happens" in terms of the recovery. "The airline industry is going through something of a boom.
Loads in Business Class and Economy are good, we should be enjoying it while it lasts.
"Most companies in the US are doing well, and those who are should be employing more people and working to expand their businesses. The problem is that the private sector seems to be waiting to see what happens, and that can create problems."