Richard Branson's Virgin USA low-cost carrier plans to purchase as many as 55 planes and may partner with US Airways Inc as it seeks to take advantage of demand for low costs flights in the US.
The airline plans to hold talks next week to decide whether to buy 35 Boeing Co 737 or Airbus SAS A320-family aircraft. It's also holding talks with Bombardier Inc and Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA about buying 20 regional jets.
"We shouldn't have any problems in now getting the airline launched" by early next year at the latest, Branson said. The Virgin Group will invest between US$50 million and US$250 million in the carrier and will own 49 percent.
"US Airways may sell off part of their assets, and they may sell it off in part cash and shares in a new company," Branson told journalists. "If they were to do that, they might decide to do something with Virgin USA."
Low-cost airline Virgin USA will try and replicate Branson's Australian success with Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd.
Virgin USA is choosing between San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Washington for its headquarters, Branson told journalists at a briefing in London, adding Virgin USA will be 100 percent American employees.
Branson said "we've been in discussions with another airline about taking over a chunk of their slot base," without naming the carrier.
David Castelveter, US Airways' Director of Public Relations, said in a statement the company had an "obligation to pursue strategic discussions which might benefit the company and its shareholders."
He added "we are not in any discussions with Virgin USA or any other Virgin representatives."
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
RSS