Virgin takes full page ad to urge against government Qantas funding

Virgin takes full page ad to urge against government Qantas funding

Virgin boss, Sir Richard Branson, took out a full page advert in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday urging the Federal Government not to provide funding to rival airline Qantas.

The letter, addressed to the Australian public, warns “business people worldwide should think twice about investing in Australia” due to Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey’s suggestion Aussie taxpayers should be forced to help prop the Qantas Group.

Saying how Qantas enjoyed a virtual monopoly until Virgin Australia upped the competition, Branson claims “Qantas has decided to act against us”.

“It announced it would go ‘go to any lengths’ to hold its 65% share of the domestic market and dumped capacity on key Virgin Australia routes, spending endless amounts of money to stop Virgin Australia offering more competition for more routes,” Branson said.

“Qantas has gone to its shareholders on numerous occasions over the last few years to wage its capacity war against us. Now that the shareholders have turned that tap off, the company is turning to the Australian taxpayer to try to bail it out.”

Branson goes on to say Virgin Australia doesn’t care what the government does with the Qantas Sale Act, saying what is more important is making sure the government does not provide financial assistance to Qantas.




Please login with linkedin to comment

Latest News

Sydney Comedy Festival: Taking The City & Social Media By Storm
  • Media

Sydney Comedy Festival: Taking The City & Social Media By Storm

Sydney Comedy Festival 2024 is live and ready to rumble, showing the best of international and homegrown talent at a host of venues around town. As usual, it’s hot on the heels of its big sister, the giant that is the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, picking up some acts as they continue on their own […]

Global Marketers Descend For AANA’s RESET For Growth
  • Advertising

Global Marketers Descend For AANA’s RESET For Growth

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has announced the final epic lineup of local and global marketing powerhouses for RESET for Growth 2024. Lead image: Josh Faulks, chief executive officer, AANA  Back in 2000, a woman with no business experience opened her first juice bar in Adelaide. The idea was brilliantly simple: make healthy […]