On shareholding, what is the status of the Singapore Airlines shareholding?
Branson: It’s been a fine alliance. I know that a Singapore management team might have mentioned at one time selling but nothing has come of that. So we are delighted and happy to have them as a shareholder of Virgin Atlantic. Are you still committed to the A380? Branson: Um . . . yes. I mean we are not taking any A380s for two or three more years. But we have indicated we will take them at some stage. You have multiple brands in Australia–Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue, V Australia–which is somewhat confusing. Can you consolidate the brands? Branson: The inability to use the Virgin name outside Australia by an Australia-based airline to Asia and the US is a legacy of the Singapore Airlines purchase of Virgin Atlantic in 1999. Godfrey: Sure we would love to re-brand everything Virgin. Our objective never was to have three brands but Virgin Blue grew beyond our wildest dreams. We never thought of New Zealand or the South Pacific so we had to come up with new brands [to get around the restr
