A state bailout of Virgin Atlantic “wouldn’t be free money”, according to the airline’s founder Sir Richard Branson.
The airline was told to re-submit its bid for £500 million in support after the UK government said it had not done enough to explore alternative funding options.
Virgin Atlantic, which is 51% owned by Sir Richard’s Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Air Lines, wants to split the cash between a commercial loan and a credit guarantee to release funds from card companies withholding payments.
In an open letter to Virgin Group staff this morning , Branson said: “Together with the team at Virgin Atlantic, we will do everything we can to keep the airline going – but we will need government support to achieve that in the face of the severe uncertainty surrounding travel today and not knowing how long the planes will be grounded for.
“This would be in the form of a commercial loan – it wouldn’t be free money and the airline would pay it back (as easyJet will do for the £600m loan the government recently gave them). The reality of this unprecedented crisis is that many airlines around the world need government support and many have already received it. Without it there won’t be any competition left and hundreds of thousands more jobs will be lost, along with critical connectivity and huge economic value.”
The billionaire also took to social media to point to a number of ‘facts’ about the Virgin Group in response to negative criticism he has received online about his actions given his net worth.
An open letter to Virgin employees https://t.co/Nv1RLBhp3jpic.twitter.com/Qj16CUT5N0
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) April 20, 2020