Our sister site, Engadget, sat down to an exclusive interview with Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson. Branson, the swash-buckling founder of the Virgin empire, flew to San Francisco on the first ever Virgin America flight. Branson, who has a 25% stake in the new company, worked for three years to get U.S. regulators to approve his new low-cost carrier. Sir Richard is vocal in his criticism of the U.S. airline industry. Indeed, he tells Engadget that if it weren't for America's peculiar Chapter 11, none of the legacy carriers in this country would still be around. To wit:
"...they just keep on going in and out of bankruptcy. In Europe, if you're dead you're dead, make room for new children to grow. It's not good for the traveling public. It's much better if you have the English system, where if you don't succeed you're bankrupt and you make room for somebody else."
The airline will compete with the likes of Jetblue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) and Southwest Airline Co. (NYSE: LUV), and will feature two flights a day to New York and five to Los Angeles from SFO. Frequent flyers must be excited, given the high reputation of the Virgin brand name, and Branson has promised these new planes, Airbus A319 and A320 jets, will have the latest in high-tech entertainment options.
Which is why the boys at Engadget wanted to go along for the ride, no doubt. Check out the whole interview here:
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