Branson fights back with open letter as he pleads with government to save Virgin Atlantic


Support us and go ad-free

Richard Branson has warned that Virgin Atlantic will collapse unless it receives government support.

The Virgin Group boss said the airline needs taxpayer support in the form of a commercial loan.

It has been reported that the carrier is asking for up to £500m of public money.

Branson put out a tweet which attempts to counter some of the criticisms that have been levelled at his businesses:

In an open letter to Virgin Group employees, Branson wrote: “We will do everything we can to keep the airline going – but we will need Government support to achieve that in the face of the severe uncertainty surrounding travel today and not knowing how long the planes will be grounded for.

“This would be in the form of a commercial loan – it wouldn’t be free money and the airline would pay it back (as easyJet will do for the £600 million loan the Government recently gave them).

“The reality of this unprecedented crisis is that many airlines around the world need government support and many have already received it.

“Without it there won’t be any competition left and hundreds of thousands more jobs will be lost, along with critical connectivity and huge economic value.”

Support us and go ad-free

Do your bit for independent journalism

Did you know that less than 1.5% of our readers contribute financially to The Canary? Imagine what we could do if just a few more people joined our movement to achieve a shared vision of a free and fair society where we nurture people and planet.

We need you to help out, if you can.

When you give a monthly amount to fund our work, you are supporting truly independent journalism. We hold power to account and have weathered many attempts to shut us down and silence the counterpoint to the mainstream.

You can count on us for rigorous journalism and fearless opposition to an increasingly fascist government and right wing mainstream media.

In return you get:

  • Advert free reading experience
  • Behind the scenes monthly e-newsletter
  • 20% discount from our shop

 

The Canary Fund us
  • Show Comments

      1. Sorry about the people he employs but his track record shows he doesn’t care much about them normally. Why should Britain subsidise this tax avoider? He could save them from his own private fortune if his employees are so important to him. This is the man who sued NHS England because he lost out on a contract.

        Report comment

    2. The absolute nerve of these psychopaths is breath taking. Denmark has the answer to these leeches. Companies which pay out dividends to shareholders, buy back own shares or are registered in tax havens won’t be eligible for any of the country’s aid programs. The “to big to fail” syndrome has got to end. The privatise profit and socialise the losses that the right wing along with its propaganda machines never mention.
      No mention of the Tory “free market” mantra of the 70s now is their ?

      Report comment

    7. I agree with all the comments here but would add that how strange it is that when companies like his Make money it’s all theirs and they avoid tax like the plague but when they start to lose cash they expect and demand that the very same tax payers they avoid adding to, give or lend them money. We bailed out the banks and look house they paid us back !!

      Report comment

    Leave a Reply

    Join the conversation

    Please read our comment moderation policy here.

Related articles