NPR interview
Branson is interviewed for NPR. Virgin doesn’t normally do M&A:
Having said that, it would be quite fun to do something with American Airlines. And so, yeah, if anybody from American Airlines is listening, we’d be happy to get your call.
American should raise quality in areas like cabin furnishings and hostess uniforms:
I mean, when we started 30 years ago with one plane flying out of England, there were 15 American carriers that we were competing with: Pan Am, TWA, Eastern, People Express, etc., etc. Every single one of them … disappeared. And they disappeared because, although we were much smaller than them, their quality was awful.
Sustainable fuels can work in the airline industry:
When we did the first test flight on coconut oil, using coconuts and a mixture, you know, there [were] a lot of jokes made. The chairman of British Airways said it was all pie in the sky, etc., etc. But the most important thing in life is just to try these things, and we tried it.