Virgin Atlantic joins competition

Virgin Atlantic Airbus flight, A340-300, made its first flight from London Heathrow Airport to Kotoka International Airport in Accra last Monday to a great fanfare and pageantry.

This will make competition on the London-Accra route keener as the Virgin flight joins British Airways and the country’s struggling national carrier, Ghana International Airlines (GIA) as the only three commercial airlines that fly direct from Ghana to the United Kingdom.

While British Airways and GIA fly daily to London, Virgin Atlantic will now make three flights a week to the same destination.

The first Virgin Atlantic flight landed at the Kotoka International Airport on Monday at 15:45 GMT with the founder and Chairman of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson aboard the Airline.

The coming of Virgin Atlantic to Ghana makes the country the fourth on the continent after South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya to enjoy Virgin’s flight operations.

“We have made a very wise decision to come to Ghana,” said Sir Branson, the 261st richest person in the world according to Forbes' 2009 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately £2.6 billion (US$3.9billion).

Sir Branson said the country’s thriving democracy largely informed the Airline to begin its operations in the country after 26 years in existence.

“Virgin doesn’t operate under military rule so we waited for democracy to thrive,” he said.

According to Sir Branson, the Airline sees British Airways as its only competition adding: “Every country needs competition and we are glad that we will be able to give British Airways competition.”

Currently, Virgin Atlantic is Britain’s second largest airline serving the world’s major cities. The Airline’s aim is “To provide the highest quality innovative service at excellent value for money for all classes of air travelers.”

He said the Airline expects to fly over 60,000 passengers to the UK in the course of the year, all whom will benefit from more choice, competitive fares and value for money.

According to the open source online portal, Wikipedia, Branson's business empire is owned by a complicated series of offshore trusts and companies. The Sunday Times stated that his wealth is calculated at £3.065 billion; if he were to retire to his Caribbean island and liquidate all of this he would pay relatively little in tax.

source:B&FT