Giving Qantas the blues?

When Sir Richard Branson took delivery of V Australia’s first 777-300ER in February 2009 he was upbeat about the airline’s future and dismissed naysayers who warned of starting an airline in difficult times.

“We have one the world’s strongest brands. Sure if you launch when the economy is booming you’re going to get to profit quicker than when you’re launching in probably the worst recession since 1929,” he said at the time. Sir Richard conceded however that the airline might have to stimulate the market “a bit more than we thought.”