HAVING shaken up the Australian domestic airline market Virgin’s Richard Branson is now planning to attack the international players on the London to Australia route.
Branson announced today plans to have Virgin Atlantic flying daily to Australia by Christmas.
Speaking after a meeting in London with Australian Tourism Minister Joe Hockey, Branson said he would appoint a team of people to work on developing an Australian route and hoped to have the new service up and running by the end of the year.
In true Branson style he said Hockey had been “twisting our arms” trying to get Virgin flying to Australia as soon as possible.
"As a result, we're going to have a team of people working on it. Hopefully, if we can get everything sorted out, maybe by Christmas or early in the New Year we'll see Virgin Atlantic flying either to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne, or even two or three of those cities.
Branson said the “kangaroo” route needed some competition to shake up British Airways and Qantas, which he said were operating a duopoly.
"They own shares in each other, you'll find that they have identical fares, and the price of tickets does affect tourism," he said.
"If we can get in there and offer a better-quality product with lower fares, hopefully more people will go to Australia and fly Virgin Blue."
Virgin Blue began flying in 2000 and now has between 25 and 30% of the Australian domestic market.
