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A dispute between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Virgin Blue has reportedly delayed the relaunch of the airline until the start of next year, with the airline’s new name and branding understood to be the major sticking point.
The two businesses have been involved in an ongoing dispute over the ‘V Australia’ name which came to the surface last year when Virgin Group blocked an attempt by Virgin Blue to trademark the name ‘V Pacific’. According to a Fairfax media report, the two parties are working on an agreement which would likely see the V Australia name and trademark applied to Virgin Blue under licence from the Virgin Group.
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A new name for the Virgin Blue Group is expected to be the key to relaunching the airline, which had been expected to occur at its 10th anniversary in August. New CEO John Borghetti has noted that a common branding between its short haul, long haul and Pacific Blue operations would be a key part of its ‘airline of the future’ concept, which is also likely to include a new business class cabin on domestic services as well as other measures to widen the appeal of the airline to corporate customers.
Separately, Virgin Blue announced to the Australian Securities Exchange on July 6 that former CEO Brett Godfrey had resigned as a director of the company.
