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It is a story that has been well documented. Of course, amongst all the many PR stunts by Virgin Atlantic, there has been no greater source of publicity for the airline than its David and Goliath rivalry with BA. This was of course a sharp contrast to BA’s corporate image and Lord King and Colin Marshall. A similar pattern followed for subsequent route launches. On the inaugural flight he dressed up in a captain’s uniform and partied with celebrities. When Virgin Atlantic launched its inaugural flight from London Gatwick to Newark on 22 June 1984, Sir Richard was the public face of the airline. After its collapse, BA and Pan Am reached an out of court settlement with the creditors of Laker Airways in response to allegations of anti-competitive activity.Īnd take the advice he did. Sir Richard had good reason to listen to the words of Sir Freddie. When Sir Richard Branson founded Virgin Atlantic in 1984 Sir Freddie Laker, the founder of Laker Airways and the Skytrain, offered some words of advice “If you are taking on British Airways and Pan Am and they have massive ad budgets, you have to use yourself to get free advertising”.

Many have been updated since first published. You can browse all 100 stories in number order, by theme or by decade. This article was published in 2019 in a series on the history of British Airways and its predecessors Imperial Airways, BOAC and BEA. Virgin Atlantic British Airways & Virgin Atlantic Aircraft, London Heathrow (Image Credit: Heathrow) London Air Travel » British Airways » BA100 » BA100: 14.

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