Virgin skies of blue?

When airline tycoon Sir Richard Branson voted to sink another $80 million into Virgin Blue in late July as part of a deeply discounted fully underwritten $231 million capital raising to bolster the airline’s balance sheet it signalled hopefully the end to speculation about the future direction of the airline.

News of the raising, ending weeks of speculation and was also the forum for the airline to announce that it expects to record its first ever loss of $165 million for the 2009 year to June 30, despite expecting a breakeven operating result.