Virgin Atlantic's chairman, Richard Branson, is to lobby the Canadian Government for permission to launch a domestic carrier, similar to Virgin Blue in Australia.
The UK-based airline, which recently announced plans to introduce a London-Toronto service next year, held preliminary discussions with Canadian officials in July. Virgin representatives met Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette in London to discuss a change to Canadian rules that limit foreign ownership of a domestic airline to 25%.
"I'm serious, if we can get permission," says Branson. "We spent the last two years campaigning in Australia to get permission there, and about a year ago the Australian Government finally relented and allowed us to start operations."
The airline began operations in Australia earlier this year, operating Boeing 737s on routes between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Branson has also been campaigning for a similar change in foreign ownership rules in the USA.
He expects it will take four or five years for the Toronto route to be profitable, adding that he is also considering experimenting with using the Airbus A3XX on the Toronto route, if his planned order for the 550-seater goes ahead.
Source: Flight International
