Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic and new domestic carrier, Little Red, has added a little sweetener to the option of a third runway at Heathrow airport, an option he clearly supports. Branson shot a warning across the bows of decision makers by saying that the UK was in danger of “slipping into the dark ages” if there isn’t additional capacity built at Heathrow. He added a further incentive by announcing that he would seriously consider expanding Little Red into Europe should a third runway be built.
Branson launched Little Red in 2013 with routes between Manchester and Heathrow, as well as the cities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, in response to British Airways’ (Virgin’s fiercest rival) purchase of British Midland, the short-haul operator. Some in the industry believe that Little Red would up their routes in an attempt to attract the popular transatlantic feeder traffic – probably fuelled by Delta Airlines taking a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic a couple of years ago, plus a drop in profits over the last few years due to fuel costs that are soaring, the financial downturn globally and more competition.
At a news conference in Dubai, Branson said to reporters: “Little Red was some crumbs we were given when British Airways bought British Midland – it’s very difficult to get slots at Heathrow so we grabbed them.” He elaborated further by adding: “We don’t have any plans to expand it until a new runway is built at Heathrow. Then we will want to set up a much bigger short-haul operation into Europe and one or two other cities in the UK, but there is still a lot of politics to go before a new runway is built.”
Over the last few decades, essentially since the 1970s, demand for air travel is risen significantly and is expected to double in the UK to around 300 million passengers by 2030… it’s not difficult to work out that something has to be done in order to accommodate this huge rise; considering we haven’t seen a new runway built – plenty of terminals, yes – but not runway since 1945 and only two runways at the UK’s main airport – as pointed out by Branson.
Something needs to be done, that isn’t in doubt; but is Heathrow the right option, and is there a case of bribery, albeit veiled, here?