News: War of words escalates between Virgin and BA bosses
Flights > News > # 1893 (18/09/2008)
Sir Richard Branson has hit back at British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh for claiming that the Virgin founder knows what it is like to run a monopoly.
In the latest development in an escalating war of words between the pair being acted out in the pages of The Daily Telegraph, Sir Richard accused the BA boss of making "demonstrably false" comments about him and his business.
The row between the pair, which has echoes of the 'dirty tricks' furore between the two airlines in the early 1990s, has been triggered by Virgin's lobbying against what it claims would be a "monster monopoly" - a planned transatlantic tie-up between BA and American Airlines.
Writing last Friday in The Telegraph, Mr Walsh said of Sir Richard: "He knows a good deal about monopolies. With help from taxpayers, he has run a real one on fast trains between London and Manchester since 1997."
Yesterday, the Virgin founder hit back, telling the paper: "This statement is so demonstrably false that it needs to be corrected and Mr Walsh's comments put into real perspective.
"The truth is Virgin Trains has grown its passenger numbers by almost 50 per cent in the past four years in the face of some of the strongest competition ever faced by a train company in Britain.
"Every weekday between Manchester and London, Virgin Trains competes against more than 40 flights between the two cities and around 50 coach journeys. That is not to mention car ownership, currently at its highest level ever. This is some monopoly."
He added: “Our overall share of journeys between the two cities - including rail, air, coach and car - is still under 30pc, a far cry from the 63pc BA/AA would have of the market between Heathrow and New York JFK airports."
The fued between the two airlines has simmered ever since Virgin blew the whistle over price-fixing on fuel surcharges, landing BA with a £350m bill.
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