By BBC News Online's Damian Carrington

The airline Virgin Atlantic has shown it is prepared for every eventuality with a web page ready and waiting for a disaster.

The web page, at www.virgin-atlantic.com/emergency, says: "A Virgin Atlantic aircraft has been involved in an accident: The plane was flying from X(PLACE)X to X(PLACE)X on X(DATE)X. It took off from X(PLACE)X at X(TIME)X local time. The flight number is VS X(NUMBER)X."

The page continues: "We are already working closely with emergency authorities involved and are channelling all our efforts into collecting information about the accident."

Mistake

A spokesperson told BBC News Online that the company was not expecting a crash: "Obviously the prospect of a crash is very unlikely but we have to put things in place so we are completely prepared for every eventuality."

"It is a mistake that it can be accessed by unauthorised people, but we are on to that now."

She added that it was "definitely normal" to create such material: "If anything did happen we would be able to communicate it quickly and efficiently to the media and everybody would be kept in touch."

In a separate Virgin gaffe, the internet service provider Virgin.net was leading its site on Monday afternoon with a competition offering flights "to New York in style with British Airways". British Airways are, of course, among Virgin Atlantic's fiercest rivals.

Virgin.net denied the juxtaposition was a gaffe, saying they were an independent company and could offer services from any company.