Richard Branson puts Virgin Atlantic up for sale

Virgin Atlantic is up for sale. This news was brought out by the British newspaper ‘The Telegraph’. Richard Branson, the owner and founder of Virgin Atlantic puts the airline for sale due to the corona crisis. Virgin Atlantic has tried to receive financial support from the British government, but the British government does not provide.

570 million needed

‘The Telegraph’ reports that Virgin Atlantic needs EUR 570 million in financial support from the British government. This is not going to happen. Richard Branson is therefore forced to put Virgin Atlantic up for sale. Meanwhile, dozens of investors have indicated to be interested in Virgin Atlantic. It concerns 51% of the shares owned by the Virgin Group.

Focus on long-haul flights

Virgin Atlantic operates mainly long-haul flights to and from the United Kingdom. For this purpose, Virgin Atlantic has a number of valuable slots at London Heathrow. These slots are worth tens of millions. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Virgin Atlantic has been put up for sale. In 1999, a 49% share of the Virgin Group was sold to Singapore Airlines. Subsequently, Delta Air Lines took over these shares in 2012.

(c) Photo: Airbus – Virgin Atlantic A330