ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now then, 30 years ago today a Boeing 747 took off from Gatwick Airport en route to New York’s Newark Airport.  It was the maiden flight of a brand new airline owned by a young man called Richard, you may remember some of the pictures from then.  That man of course was Richard Branson and the airline was Virgin Atlantic of course, so 30 years on how is the airline doing?  Well they are not making a profit for starters so there’s still some work to do and I’m joined now by the man at the top, the Chief Executive Craig Kreeger, a very good morning to you.  Well let’s deal with that first of all, loss making for the last two years, what’s the outlook and how are you going to turn it around? 

CRAIG KREEGER:  We’re right in the middle of a process to do just that and our 30th anniversary, Dermot, is a big moment for our airline as we transition from the last couple of years to a really good future so this year we anticipate that in fact we will be profitable and it’s the second year of a two year recovery plan.  We start taking some new  airplanes and we’ve got a great new partnership with Delta and all of those things I think will contribute to …

DM: You’ve got new aeroplanes, you’re taking your new Dreamliner aren’t you but there have been problems though with the development of that.  What difference will the Dreamliner, the 787, make to Virgin?

CRAIG KREEGER: It is a big deal for Virgin Atlantic, it will represent four years from now about 40% of our total fleet and the delays in its arrival has been one of the things that has slowed down our recovery.  The fact that we’re getting it now and it has got great customer features and great fuel economy I think is a really good thing for us.  

DM: This tie-up with Delta, are you still very much in control?  Delta have got 49% of Virgin haven’t they, how hands-on are they?  Is this a merger, is it an alliance, what is it?

CRAIG KREEGER: It is absolutely an alliance with a joint venture on our flights between the UK and North America so we work very closely with Delta.  For example we have just announced that we will be flying one of airplanes to Atlanta which connects to all of Delta’s flights beyond Atlanta and offers one hundred new destinations to Virgin Atlantic customers, so this is a chance for us to get a bigger footprint by virtue of a great partnership.

DM: But of course the thing about Virgin is its brand.  A lot of people fly Virgin because they like what they get from Virgin and if they are stuck on a Delta flight and they didn’t even know they were going to be on a Delta flight, doesn’t that dilute some of the appeal of Virgin?

CRAIG KREEGER: Well first of all Virgin Atlantic started, Richard started Virgin Atlantic with a pretty simple premise I think – why can’t we make air travel fun?  And the Virgin Atlantic people have carried that attitude with them for the 30 years of the company’s history and it is obviously critical for us that we communicate to our customers clearly that if they are connecting onto a Delta flight that it is a Delta flight and not a Virgin Atlantic flight and we think Delta has a great service ethos itself, maybe not the same that we have, and we are happy to do that.   

DM: You have to make those compromises.  You didn’t think that when you were working at American Airlines, did you?  Delta were one of your number one rivals. 

CRAIG KREEGER: They were indeed but it is impossible not to have noticed how successful Delta has been and how much they have invested in technology and customer facing features to be a really great partner. 

DM: But with this issue of losses and Richard Branson still very much the face of the entire Virgin brand it must be said, there are those who said 30 years ago and they still say it now, this was a vanity project, Richard Branson just likes having this.  He can lose a lot of money on it because he’s got so much.

CRAIG KREEGER: No, my job is very, very clear and I can tell you …

DM: Does he have much to do with it?

CRAIG KREEGER: I talk to Richard with some frequency.  I’m responsible for the day to day running but he still owns 51% of the company so I do chat with him and he wants to see this company be truly successful and that’s what we’ve set about doing. 

DM: I presume you wouldn’t have got involved if you thought it was a vanity project for Richard Branson. 

CRAIG KREEGER: I have never thought of it as a vanity project.  I flew Virgin Atlantic as a customer several years ago and had a great experience which permanently affected my view of this company as some place that was tough to compete with and people I would really like being around and getting a chance to take this role enabled me to be a part of all that. 

DM: What do you think, I’ve got to talk to you about capacity here, particularly in the South East. There seems to be an eternal debate about another runway or runways, where they are going to be and when they’re going to be built, is that one of the things that could constrain Virgin’s growth?

CRAIG KREEGER: Well it clearly already has constrained Virgin’s growth and I don't know what the right thing for Virgin Atlantic is but I do know what the right thing for the UK is and when we see jobs being created in places like Amsterdam or in Dubai because of the investment in infrastructure and the way aviation can grow business and tourism for an economy, it’s just a crime to me that this country is not pursuing more aggressively, utilising the benefits that aviation can create to drive the economy.

DM: Where should the runway go? 

CRAIG KREEGER: Look, my number one key to the solution is that we really need a [Rio] hub and I think the Thames Estuary would solve that problem in that way but that seems too expensive so I think the correct answer is that we need a runway at Heathrow to allow that to become a more viable hub and create the kind of connecting infrastructure that will allow the airlines in the UK to fly to a lot more destinations.  

DM: Do you despair of the political debate that that seems, as I say, to have been going on eternally?

CRAIG KREEGER: I admit to being somewhat naïve about UK politics and I am therefore hopeful that we can reach a resolution this time.  

DM: Well Mr Kreeger, thank you very much indeed, very good to see you and congratulations, happy birthday to Virgin Atlantic.  

CRAIG KREEGER: Thank you very much.