Word: branson
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Experiencing the future as Branson imagines it will cost you less than $300, the price of a bare-bones economy ticket between Los Angeles and New York City on one of Virgin America's 149-seat A320s. The planes are new, and the leather seats are comfortable enough for sleeping, even in coach. There are power outlets at every seat. The most profound change, though, doesn't look like much of an improvement at first. Like many U.S. carriers, Virgin America charges for food in economy class. But flight attendants don't dole it out from a cart like gruel...
...Branson is in Los Angeles to celebrate the launch of V Australia, which will begin flying from Sydney to Los Angeles on Dec. 15. With that last piece of the puzzle in place, he proclaims, "I can finally fly all the way around the world on a Virgin plane!" Over lunch, he and the Australians hatch plans to promote it with a classic Virgin publicity stunt, inevitably involving an appearance by Sir Richard...
Virgin's airlines operate more like a loose regional federation, connected by the Virgin brand (an extension of Branson's lighthearted persona in a red-and-purple color scheme) but otherwise owned and operated independently. Each has its own business model--different services for different customers in a different set of cities--but they can work together as needed. Virgin Atlantic, V Australia and Virgin America, for example, plan to share a first-class lounge at LAX and thus reduce overhead. Virgin America, V Australia and Virgin Blue can decide on a whim to allow some of their flight attendants...
...Branson likes to cultivate an image of himself as a risk taker. He was right in character at the press conference announcing V Australia, staged inside one of the departure terminals at LAX, to the slight confusion of people walking toward security. As Brett Godfrey, Virgin Blue's CEO, unveils the airline's introductory fare--$1,000 round trip between Sydney and Los Angeles--Branson, in jeans and a rumpled polo shirt, interrupts. "That's not good enough," he declares. "What kind of plane are we flying? 777s? Then let's make it $777 for the first thousand tickets!" People...
...precisely calculated risk he is taking on those fares, 15% less than competitors, is the only kind Branson, 57, has ever really taken. His autobiography reads like an adventurer's litany of near misses and narrow escapes from hot-air balloon crashes, storms at sea and unruly lovers. But Branson the accountant is unmistakable. He is methodical about risk and rigorously applies that principle to the diciest of industries, airlines. That's why, for example, Virgin America does not plan to have more than 100 planes--limiting itself in the first five years to the 30 largest U.S. cities, those...