Virgin Atlantic Airways
They say you never forget your first time… and it must be true, because Virgin Atlantic has been rending the sky with its service and entrepreneurism for 25 years and is still going strong under the leadership of Sir Richard Branson.
What sets Virgin Atlantic Airways apart from the competition? Virgin Atlantic’s main competition is British Airways, because when Virgin Atlantic startd in 1984, they began directly competing with BA on international long-haul flights from the UK to destinations like the USA and the Carribbean.
I’d like to discuss exactly why Virgin Airways (and Richard Branson himself) have been so successful. I’ve put together some quotes that discuss this. Enjoy.
Talking about his mentor, Freddie Laker, Branson said: “At the time, I was running a little record company; I was about 17 years old. The first time I met him was some years later. I was thinking about setting up my own airline. He gave me this advice: ‘You’ll never have the advertising power to outsell British Airways. You are going to have to get out there and use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you won’t survive’.”
“I hope that the reason Virgin has been successful and will continue to be successful is that we recognize that the public cares about how companies in which they invest their trust, their loyalty and their money behave in the marketplace.”
“We’ve never followed the business models of the marketing and financial gurus. Rather, we’ve developed our own ways of doing things, regardless of the criticism thrown at us by the so-called business experts.”
“My parents would never let me criticize anyone, saying it would reflect badly on me. To this day, I look for the best in people who work for Virgin and believe that as a result I only get the best back. ‘Flowers flourish when watered,’ they’d tell me. The same applies to people.”