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Australia to get Virgin treatment
Today over the Atlantic, by July over Australia? |
Richard Branson's Virgin Group has unveiled plans to set up a low-cost, no frills airline in Australia - just in time for the start of next year's Olympic Games in Sydney.
The as yet unnamed service plans to dramatically undercut its competitors by offering one-way flights between major cities on the continent for as little as 100 Australian dollars (£40, $63).
 The amount of people flying (in Australia) will go up threefold.  |
| Richard Branson |
The carrier will be modelled on Virgin Air, the group's successful European airline.
Hourly peak-time flights
Mr Branson said he hoped to have the first Virgin planes flying by July 2000, and hinted that the busy Sydney-Melbourne route would be among the first serviced.
Connecting Perth with Sydney, and flights across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand are also under consideration.
Richard Branson, the man upsetting Australia's airline duopoly |
John Morse, managing director of the Australian Tourist Commission, said: "This is really good news and will make things very competitive and provide better value for travellers."
Virgin says it has received assurances over take-off and landing slots and airport space from major airports and the government. But Mr Branson acknowledged some regulatory hurdles had yet to be overcome.
Domestic air travel in Australia is currently dominated by Qantas Airways and Ansett Australia.
Mr Branson predicted the new service would stimulate "hundreds of thousands of people to fly fare more often than they currently can", predicting Virgin would not "take much business away from Qantas or Ansett".
Mr Branson said the Australian Government had welcomed the arrival of more competition, and had ensured him "if there is any anti-competitive behaviour, they will deal with it strongly".
Virgin has fought a string of court battles in the UK and the US over allegedly anti-competitive behaviour by one of its biggest competitors British Airways.
British Airways owns 25% of Qantas Australia.
Virgin Group has been in the airline business since 1984, when the company began to fly between London and New York.
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13 Oct 98 | The Company File |
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Virgin slashes air fares in BA price war |
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17 May 98 | Business |
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BA says sorry to Branson |
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Ansett Australia |
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Qantas Australia |
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British Airways |
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Airservices Australia (govt) |
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