Sir Richard Branson was guest of honour at today's launch of Virgin Australia, an airline which now firmly extends his aviation empire across the globe. We recorded his presentation for your viewing pleasure:
Virgin Australia CEO John Borghetti was up next, to flesh out some of the details on how he wants the revamped and revitalised Virgin Blue to take on Qantas.
"It really feels like today is my first day in the job" he quipped. "The last 12 months have been about hard work and strategy, but today is where it all starts – it starts here and it starts now. We will break what has been a monopoly in business class since the days at that Ansett stopped flying."
Borghetti didn't lay out all of his ambitious 'game change' plan – for example, speaking of the overhaul of the Velocity frequent flyer program he said "in a few months we'll roll out a completely new, and I mean completely new, frequent flyer program." There's more to come, he said, tomorrow and next week and through the year.
This is just part of Australian Business Traveller's comprehensive coverage of Virgin Australia's launch day:
- Touchdown! Virgin Australia's first landings at Sydney Airport
- New Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 planes, plus what the new offerings mean for business travellers
- Punchy, fresh new ads for Virgin Australia, plus interviews with uniform designer Julie Grbac, inflight chef Luke Mangan and brand guru Hans Hulbosch
- The very first on-board photos from Virgin Australia's new Boeing 737-800 in Business and Economy
- Insider photos from the launch day with Richard Branson and John Borghetti
- Full analysis of the decision to rebrand all the Virgin Blue group airlines (including V Australia, Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue) as Virgin Australia
- Richard Branson and John Borghetti hint at premium economy class for Virgin Australia
- Our interview with Richard Branson about business travel
- Photo tour: Virgin Australia's new Boeing 737 with futuristic 'Sky Interior'
- Seat guide: Virgin Australia Airbus A330 business class
- Photo gallery: Virgin Australia's Airbus A330 business class, economy class and new in-flight meals
- Photo gallery: Virgin Australia's Boeing 737-800 cabin, business class and economy class
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
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