The airlines are suffering across the board, but Virgin Atlantic is actually coming out ahead. The airline credits the “T5 Effect” for helping it through the first quarter, i.e. redirecting passengers troubled by British Airways’ Terminal 5. Virgin Atlantic made more than $43 million in its first quarter, compared with a $4 million loss last year.
Sir Richard Branson also used the carrier’s good fortune to once again voice his dissent on a Transatlantic venture between British Airways and American Airlines:
“It’s ironic that just as regulators are breaking up one monopoly —
BAA — British Airways and American Airlines are trying to create another. Our results prove that consumers want choice on transatlantic routes,” Virgin Atlantic President Richard Branson said in a statement Tuesday. Branson was referring to the request from a U.K. regulator for BAA to sell two of the three London-area airports.
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