He cannot afford for AWI to let him down. The cash cow of the Virgin empire, founded in 1984 and consistently profitable in recent years. Now the second largest British long-haul airline flying across the Atlantic, and to Tokyo, Shanghai and New Delhi. Business threatened by a deal between Europe and US to open up competition in the airline market. Virgin Express 54 per cent.
Rest is floated.
Loss-making European airline based in Brussels. Floated in New York and Brussels. Lost more in the first quarter of 2000 than in all of 1999. Virgin Rail 51 per cent. The success of the West Coast line modernisation is essential.