The 60s: 1968: On January 26th, the very first issue of Student Magazine went to print. This was Richard's first ever business venture. The 70s: 1971: The first Virgin record shop opened on Oxford Street, London.
1972: Richard opened a Virgin recording studio at "The Manor" near Oxford.
1973: Virgin was launched as record label. The first person to sign up was Mike Oldfield. His album, Tubular Bells, became one of the biggest selling records of the decade! The album was even used as the soundtrack to The Exorcist.
This year, Richard also started up a music publishing company. 1977: We'd heard the music, made the music and bought the record. Now it was time to get down at the club. The Venue opens in London.
Human League came to the party, too. 1979: The Sex Pistols were too much of a risk for EMI and A&M. That was music to Richard's ears. Sid signed on the dotted line.
The 80s: 1980: Virgin Records went international. At first we were just on a licensing basis, but then we established our own subsidiaries. We started in France, but then grew into all major territories.
1981: Phil Collins signed to Virgin label for the UK.
1982: Boy George and the Culture Club signed to us for worldwide rights. Let's hear it for the boy!
1983: Virgin Vision (later to become Virgin Communications) formed to distribute films and videos in the television and broadcasting sector.
Vanson Developments formed. It's aim was to look into opportunities in retail, commercial and residential property developments in UK. We started playing games. Well, actually Virgin Games launched. The Virgin Group's combined pre-tax profit reached £2m with a turnover of just under £50m. 1984: They say the sky's the limit. We pushed the boundaries, and launched Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Cargo.
We also invested in a luxury hotel (it's all ours now!) in Deya, Mallorca. We started thinking about other exotic destinations, too! Virgin Vision launched 'The Music Channel', a 24 hour satellite music station. We also produced a film called 1984, starring Richard Burton and John Hurt. 1985: The finances were looking good! A £25m private placing of 7% convertible stock was completed with 25 English and Scottish institutions.
We won the Business Enterprise Award for company of the year! Our Group now included record labels, retail outlets, exported music publishing, broadcasting, satellite television, and film and video distribution. Phew! By October, we were distributing film and video in Europe, the USA, Australia and the Far East. We needed a break, so we started up Virgin Holidays. It's now one of the UK's largest long-haul tour operations, specialising in East and West coast USA. 1986: Virgin Group, comprising of the music, retail and property, and communications divisions, floated on the London Stock Exchange, with 35% of the ordinary equity being acquired by 87,000 shareholders. The airline, clubs, holidays and aviation services stayed part of a privately owned company called Voyager Group.
1987: A busy year!
We took Virgin Records to the states! This investment in new US record labels was key to the development of our worldwide music coverage. We set up a subsidiary in Japan soon afterwards. The BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting) was awarded a UK licence to broadcast five new TV channels by satellite in the UK from Autumn 1989. The Virgin Group, along with Granada, Anglia and Pearson, were founder members of the BSB. Virgin set up 525, a post production facility in LA, to work on high end commercials and pop videos. Among other things, we specialised in special effects, graphics and video editing. We sold the controlling interest in 'The Music Channel' to ITV. We then set up 'Music Box' as an independent producer of music programmes. Virgin bought a 45% stake in Mastertronics Group, which included UK distribution for Sega computer games. Virgin Mastertronics later became a wholly owned subsidiary which created, marketed and distributed computer games software. We also distributed Sega consoles in several European countries. Virgin also bought Rushes film and video post production house that year, as well as Rushes Post Production in London. We launched Virgin Airship & Balloon Company, too, so we now had more than just planes in the sky! On the financial side, the first annual results of Virgin Group plc were above expectations at £28 million pre-tax on continuing businesses, with a turnover of £279 million. Our company was also listed in the USA on the NASDAQ Exchange, and we established a Euro-dollar and Sterling Commercial Paper programme. 1988: The first book about Richard was published. It was written by Mick Brown.
We were proud to open Olympic Recording Studios in Barnes, London – it was the most modern studio complex in Europe! We also launched another international record label, Virgin Classics. Virgin Classics specialised in high quality classical music… the name speaks for itself, really! We sold some of our smaller UK retail outlets (not the Megastores!) to WHSmith for £23m. We put more time and money into Virgin Megastores, opening new stores in both the UK and abroad. We set up Virgin Broadcasting to take our radio and television ideas to the next level. Virgin Atlantic won 3 major business class awards for its Upper Class service. They also became Britain's No.2 long-haul carrier. Richard Branson announced a management buyout following the October 1987 stock market crash. An offer of 140p per share, valuing the Group at £248m, was accepted by the 41,000 shareholders, and Virgin Group joined Voyager Group as a private company in December. Virgin Hotels came into being, with 3 properties: Norton House Hotel in Edinburgh, Crathorn Hall hotel in North Yorkshire, and Rhinefield House Hotel in Hampshire. Virgin sold it's shareholding in BSB to Bond Corporation. And yes, we made a profit. 1989: Virgin Atlantic Airways announced doubled pre-tax profits at £10 million! They also established their own engineering operations.
The 90s: 1990: The Virgin Retail Group signed a 50:50 joint venture with Marui, one of the major Japanese retailers. We got together to operate Virgin Megastores in Japan – the first one opened in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in September.
We also formed Virgin Lightships, to manage a new type of advertising helium airship that illuminated internally at night. 1991: WH Allen Plc, Allison & Busby and Virgin Books were all combined into one company – this became Virgin Publishing, a subsidiary of Virgin Communications.
Virgin Communications sold Virgin Mastertronic to Sega for £33m. We kept the publishing division, though, and started to expand Virgin Games. In the aviation world, Virgin Atlantic won a historic ruling by the CAA, allowing it to operate extra services to Tokyo through the transfer of rights from BA. Virgin Atlantic also won the right to operate services out of Heathrow (London) in addition to Gatwick (London). A 50:50 joint venture between the Virgin Retail Group and WHSmith was announced, with the aim of further developing Megastores throughout the UK. 1992: The Virgin Music Group was sold to THORN EMI in 1992 in a US$1billion deal. The deal allowed the Virgin Music Group to remain independent within THORN EMI, and Richard remained the non-executive President.
The Radio Authority granted Virgin Communications Ltd and TV-am Plc the license for INR2, Britain's first national commercial rock station. Our post production interests were reorganised under a new holding company called Virgin Television – with the aim to expand worldwide. Rushes London and 525 Los Angeles expanded their digital capabilities. Virgin Retail opened stores in Spain, Netherlands, Australia and USA. Virgin entered into an important joint venture agreement with Blockbuster (USA), the world's largest home video retailer. They became equal partners in its expanding into Continental European and Australian Megastores chains. Virgin managed and operated the stores. Virgin acquired 100% shareholding of Euro-Magnetic Products, a specialist in personal computers. 1993: A very important year for Virgin Atlantic Airways! We won a historic libel settlement of £610,000 plus all legal costs from British Airways. This related to a dirty tricks campaign by British Airways against Virgin Atlantic and allegations surrounding it.
We were also voted Executive Travel's "Airline of the Year" for the third year running! Virgin 1215 launched. It was UK's first national commercial rock music station broadcast on 1215 AM. Virgin owned 75% of the station and Apax Partners and Company Ventures Ltd 25%. South East European Airways of Greece launched a daily service between London Gatwick and Athens using a 737-400. The aircraft flew under licence from Virgin Atlantic in Virgin colours. Virgin Hotels got its first management contract for The Close Hotel and Restaurant in Tetbury. Virgin Games is renamed Virgin Interactive Entertainment plc. Hasbro Inc, the world's largest toy-maker, acquired a 15% stake. Virgin Euromagnetics enters the PC market by launching it's first ever range of personal computers. Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation acquired a 20% stake in Virgin Interactive Entertainment, joining Hasbro as strategic minority shareholder. 1994: Virgin Atlantic launched daily non-stop scheduled service from Heathrow to Hong Kong in February using new Airbus A-340 300 aircraft. In May daily services also commence from Heathrow to San Francisco and the first of two new Boeing 747-400 aircraft join the Virgin fleet.
Virgin Megastores in Hong Kong was formed as a joint venture with Wheelock Pacific (one of Hong Kong's largest groups) to develop the Megastores home entertainment retail concept in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. In the UK and Ireland, Virgin Retail acquired the Our Price chain. WHSmith owned 75% of the new venture and Virgin Retail Group owned 25%, but they both had equal board representation. Virgin Retail became the UK's largest music retailer! Virgin acquired 50% of Sound Solutions as an associate for Caroline International. It was a big year for the Virgin Hotels Group! We entered into a joint venture with Shirayama Shokusan to develop County Hall into London's premier family hotel and leisure complex. We acquired 50% interest in Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, one of the UK's premier hotel and restaurants, and gained 100% ownership of Norton House, Crathorne Hall, and Rhinefield House. We were also awarded the contract to manage Seiont Manor Hotel, Coed-y-Mwstwr Hotel, Cwrt Bleddyn Hotel and Mickleover Court Hotel. Virgin Hotels Marketing Ltd was launched in November to market small hotels who were managed by owners whose hotels were similar in style to Virgin's. Taychreggan Hotel on the shores of Loch Awe was the first hotel to join the consortium. Virgin Management and Rodney Fitch and Company formed a 50:50 joint venture offering a creative design and brand development consultancy. Virgin announced that Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation increased its stake in V.I.E. to 75%. Virgin shareholders still maintained a minority share holding in the company. Virgin Television opened it's first new facility, Virgin Television Mexico, in Mexico City. Virgin's first operation in Latin America offered a complete range of digital post production services in the commercials market. Rushes in London and 525 in Los Angeles opened multimedia post production services. Virgin Trading Company formed to market a range of FMCG goods under the Virgin Brand name. The company planned a number of separate joint ventures. Virgin Trading Company and William Grant & Sons announced a commercial agreement to market Virgin Vodka in the UK. Virgin Radio was awarded a new London FM licence by the Radio Authority. The station launched its national AM station, Virgin 1215 in 1993 and by September 1994 had nearly 4 million regular listeners. Virgin Group announced the formation of The Virgin Cola Company Ltd. Virgin Cola produced, marketed and distributed drinks under the Virgin brand name to a select number of markets around the world. The company initially concentrated on the development and sale of premium quality cola beverages. 1995: Virgin Atlantic and Malaysia Airlines announced a unique partnership agreement to operate a double daily scheduled service from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur with onward flights to Australia. The new service started on 1 June 1995.
The readers of Which? Magazine voted Virgin Holidays as the best long haul tour operator in both the UK and the USA. US Department of Transportation finally approved the partnership and code sharing agreement announced by Virgin Atlantic Airways and Delta Airlines in 1994. The deal, commenced in May 1995, was a unique marketing agreement involving the purchase of block space on all Virgin's transatlantic flights by Delta. Other aspects of the agreement included a frequent flyer programme and use of Delta terminal space by Virgin in the United States. Virgin Direct Personal Financial Service launched in March 1995. The company was established to sell financial services by telephone at a significantly lower cost than traditional financial services companies. The first product sold was an ‘Index Tracking' personal equity plan (PEP). Virgin bought MGM Cinemas, the largest cinema operator in the UK. A 5-year expansion of the chain was planned. Some of the smaller cinemas were subsequently sold, leaving 19 multiplex and 5 traditional cinemas. Australian Mutual Provincial (AMP) bought a 50% stake in Virgin Direct, buying out Norwich Union, the original partner. 1996: Virgin Atlantic launched a new scheduled service from Manchester to Orlando. New daily services from Heathrow to Washington DC commenced as well, and Johannesburg followed shortly after. With the addition of five new aircraft – two 747-400s and three A340s – the total fleet now became 20.
Virgin Travel Group acquired EBA (Euro Belgian Airlines) for £38m, and renamed it Virgin Express. This was a short haul airline based in Belgium offering a low cost, no frills service, flying from Brussels to Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Vienna and Nice with a new route linking Rome and Madrid. London & Continental Railways, in which Virgin was a minority shareholder, won a £3billion contract to build the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and operate Eurostar services by rail to London, Brussels and Paris. V2 Music launched, comprising of the UK label, V2 Records and V2 Music Publishing with affiliates in France, Germany, Scandinavia and the US. The Stereophonics and the Kings of Infinite Space were the first two bands signed to the label. Virgin Net launched as an internet service provider (ISP) with the most up to date technology. Virgin Bride opens its doors promising to revolutionise the wedding industry in the UK. It was the largest bridal retail outlet in Europe. Virgin Rail Group Ltd was awarded the CrossCountry Trains Ltd passenger rail franchise. It operated InterCity and Express services linking over 130 stations across England, Scotland and Wales. Crathorne Hall Hotel was awarded the AA Holiday of the Year Award! 1997: Virgin was awarded the 15 year rail franchise for operating the InterCity West Coast and planned to introduce 40 high speed tilting trains on the routes to the Midlands, the North West of England, North Wales and Scotland to cut journey times considerably.
Virgin Hotels Limited was awarded RAC Credit to the Industry Award for 1997. The Virgin Hotels Group bought three of the Welsh Hotels we managed: Cwrt Bleddyn Hotel, Coed Y Mwstwr Hotel and Seiont Manor Hotel. Kinko's and Virgin announced plans for a UK and French joint venture to bring 24-hour business services to London for the first time, under the Kinko's brand name. Virgin Atlantic reintroduced a Gatwick - New York service and increased numbers of flights, including a double daily Los Angeles service. The airline also announced plans for an order of up to 16 Airbus A360-600s for the year 2002. Richard Branson acquired a 55% stake in the London Broncos rugby league team. We all need our own team, don't we?! Virgin Radio and Capital Radio announced merger plan. The result was Virgin taking a 17% stake in Capital, and Richard Branson joining the board. Chris Evans and venture capital group APAX then approached Richard Branson and, as a result, Ginger Productions acquired Virgin Radio for £85m. The new company, renamed Ginger Media Group, was managed by the existing staff and the station continued to operate as Virgin Radio. Virgin Express announces its intention to become a quoted company by listing on the Brussels and NASDAQ exchanges. Virgin Cinemas and Virgin Megastores Worldwide (excluding the UK) merged to form the Virgin Entertainment Group. It's also the year we became pretty! Virgin Vie, a new joint venture cosmetics and beauty care company launched its first four flagship stores in Oxford Street (London), Bromley, Meadowhall (Sheffield) and Lakeside, Thurrock. Virgin Direct launcheed its first banking product, Virgin One, a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Woodhouse Securities purchased Buxted Park Hotel, which became one of the 30 properties in the Virgin Hotels Collection brand. 1998: The year we turned 30!
Richard Branson won the G-Tech court case, involving G-Tech the lottery equipment supplier and Guy Snowden its former chairman. V2 Records released 'Diana', the tribute album for Diana, the Princess of Wales, on behalf of the record industry. It raised over £40m for charity. Virgin Holidays launched Virgin Sun to look after short-haul holidays. Virgin Express started flights from Stansted to Continental Europe. The Rail Regulator, John Swift, approved Virgin Trains' and Railtrack's massive upgrade of the UK's West Coast Main Line. Stagecoach bought 49% of the Virgin Rail Group and Virgin increased its stake from 41% to 51%. Virgin Entertainment Group bought out WHSmith's 75% holding in Virgin Our Price retail chain in Great Britain and Ireland. It's all ours now! 1999: Virgin Rail Group completed the financing of new high speed tilting trains for both its franchises - West Coast and Cross Country. A total of over £4 billion of private sector investment in Britain's most run down railways was now secured with the introduction of the new trains still on track for 2001-2002.
Virgin Atlantic announced further expansion plans, and Virgin Atlantic's fleet of wide body jets grew to 28. 1999 saw the launch of new routes to Chicago, Shanghai and other destinations. Virgin Sun's first charter flights began in May 1999. In December, Singapore Airlines and Virgin announced that Singapore Airlines would buy a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic for £600m cash. The deal valued the airline at £1.2billion, and resulted in a wide range of benefits for both passengers and the company. In the same month, Virgin Atlantic announces a deal with Air India thatl give the airline access to the sub-continent for the first time, with flights due to start in July 2000. Virgin continued its expansion in e-commerce, with a wide range of services including Virgin Megastores online, and the ability to book train tickets online. Virgin Mobile, Virgin's first consumer telecommunications venture, announces creation of 500 jobs in Trowbridge, West Wiltshire. We launched in November 1999 as a joint venture with One2One, which later became T-Mobile. Virgin Mobile really shook up the telecoms industry, and was the first to introduce free voicemail retrieval and one simple, decreasing tariff. Virgin Megastores continued their expansion worldwide with store openings in Miami, Glasgow, Piccadilly Circus, Bluewater, Strassburg, Okayama in Japan. The total number of Megastores was now 381! The Virgin Entertainment Group accepted an offer of £215m from UGC of France to buy Virgin Cinemas. Virgin Active launched a health and lifestyle centre, in Preston, Leeds and Stockley Park. Virgin Express began a new service from Stansted to Berlin. Virgin also confirms that they intend to set up a new independent low cost airline in Australia. Virgin opened Ulusaba, a private game reserve in the Sabi Sands region near Kruger National Park in South Africa. The company also confirmed the sale of some of its smaller UK hotels to a private investor as part of its plan to refocus on exclusive properties around the world. The 00s: 2000: Virgin Mobile's partner One2One won one of the new 3G mobile phone licences for enhanced technology wireless telephony services. This gave Virgin potential access to this valuable new mobile infrastructure. By November 2000, we'd grown to over 500,000 customers and won Network of the Year from Mobile Choice Magazine.
The Virgin Rail Group bid for the East Coast Mainline, competing against existing operator GNER. The first new tilting trains and diesel trains for the West Coast and Cross Country franchises rolled off the production line. Virgin Management Asia was formed – one of its first deals was a billion dollar joint venture agreement with Singtel to set up mobile phone operations throughout Asia. Virgin launched a series of new businesses including Virgin Cars, Virgin Wines, Virgin Student, Virgin Money.com, Virgin Energy and Virgin Travelstore.com. Virgin Atlantic's £600m joint venture deal with Singapore Airlines completed in April. The expansion of the business continued with the launch of routes to Las Vegas and Dehli. The airline's new flat sleeper bed went into service for the first time in Upper Class. V.shop, a new retail concept set up to replace the Our Price brand acquired from WHSmith in 1998 was launched. Between September and November over 100 shops were converted, making it the fastest retail roll out in history. Virgin Blue, the low cost airline in Australia, launched with flights operating between Brisbane and Sydney. NTL signed an agreement to buy Virgin Net's ISP business for around £90m in cash and shares. Virgin bought a stake in Lynx New Media, a venture capital fund set up with Bear Stearns to invest in new media and technology start ups. 2001: Virgin Mobile reached 1,000,000 customers, making it the fastest-growing mobile start-up ever seen in the UK, and among the top performers ever in the world. They then launched a new service in Northern Ireland.
Virgin Megastores opened a new store in Tokyo, making that 33 Japanese stores. Virgin Megastores also opened its first Middle East Megastore in Beirut, operated by a franchise with the Murr TV Group. The 20,000 sqft Megastores was built inside a restored historic cinema in the center of Beirut, and became the flagship store for Virgin in the Middle East. Virgin Megastores opened its door to the first Megastore in Dubai in October. Virgin Bikes launched. Sprint and Virgin announce new joint venture to offer pay-as-you-go wireless communications services and phones to the U.S. market under the Virgin Mobile brand. Virgin Active raised £100 million to enable them to become the world's fourth largest health and fitness group. The financing was used to roll out of 17 health and fitness clubs throughout the UK and South Africa. Virgin Atlantic launched a new route to Nigeria. Virgin Entertainment Group, sold its French Megastores business to Lagardére Media. The deal allowed Lagardére Media to operate the 16 Virgin Megastores under the Virgin brand. Lagardére gives Virgin the rights to sell mobile phones in its outlets in France. Virgin Mobile expands its business to Singapore. Under the terms of the agreement, Singapore Telecom will take a 50% stake in Virgin Mobile (Asia) PTE Limited. AMP and Virgin combine Virgin Direct and Virginmoney under a single Virgin Money brand. Virgin sells its share of the Virgin One business to the Royal Bank of Scotland. Virgin Trains delivers its first Pendolino 140 mph tilting train at Alsthom Factory in Birmingham. New Voyager 125mph diesel trains go into service on the Cross Country rail network. Virgin Blue continues to expand following the collapse of Ansett, and Virgin Express expands following the collapse of Sabena Airlines. Virgin Atlantic restructures following the tragic September 11 attacks in New York. 2002: Virgin Atlantic finalised a deal with Airbus to become the launch customer for the A340-600 – its inaugural flight took place on August 1 to New York.
Virgin Blue reached 5 million customers! Patrick Corporation signed an agreement to acquire a 50% shareholding in Virgin Blue, as a cost of $260m. Virgin Express became the largest passenger carrier from Brussels to European destinations. Virgin Money launched a new credit card company. Virgin Rail replaces every train in its Cross Country franchise with new 125 mph rolling stock. 2003: Virgin Atlantic launched a twice-weekly service between London Gatwick and Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Virgin Atlantic also increased its destinations to 22 by introducing flights between Gatwick and Tobago and Grenada.
Virgin Atlantic operated a first aid relief flight to Basra. Virgin Atlantic introduced its revolutionary new Upper Class 'Suite', the longest and most comfortable flat bed and seat in the airline industry. Virgin Cars opens the first ever vehicle department store in Manchester. Virgin Trains runs first "Pendolino" tilting train on the West Coast Main Line with passengers onboard. Richard Branson bought Makepeace in Queensland Island. His main reason for buying it was for staff to celebrate the success of Virgin companies around the world. Virgin Blue's Initial Public Offering (IPO) has closed more than 10 times oversubscribed. The final price for the offering has been set at $2.25 per share. Virgin Money launched a credit card company in Australia. Virgin Pulse, a line of 'lifestyle electronics', launched in the US with 15 consumer electronic products. 2004: Virgin Atlantic announced new routes to the Bahamas and Cuba.
Virgin Blue flies 20 million guests! Virgin Mobile attracts 4 million customers! Virgin Atlantic celebrate it's 20th Birthday. The launch of Virgin Digital is announced offering; Digital downloads, Subscription music club, Digital radio and complete media management. The Launch of Virgin Nigeria is announced. Virgin.net launches £17.99 broadband. Virgin announces the launch of Virgin Galactic, to undertake the challenge of developing space tourism for everybody. Virgin Atlantic launches the Hong Kong to Sydney route. Virgin Atlantic offers upper class passengers suit-er dreams with double suites onboard. Ntl acquires the remaining 51% of Virgin.net to become the sole owner. Virgin Blue launches new Fiji flights. Virgin Atlantic announces $5.5billion order for 26 Airbus A340-600's. Virgin Money win four top awards at the Your-Money Directs Awards 2004. The first passengers travel all the way between London & Glasgow onboard Virgin's new £11million Pendolino train. 2005: The year so far....
Virgin Mobile launched in Canada The Virgin Atlantic Globalflyer successfully took off for round-the-world record attempt. V Festival line up includes; Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand, Chemical Brother's, and the Prodigy, with many more. Virgin Atlantic introduced Sunday Roast for their passengers. Virgin Atlantic introduced increased services to Shanghai and new services to Beijing. Virgin Atlantic celebrated the reveal of the A380 and promises that it's superjumbos will not just be bigger but better than other aircraft. Virgin Blue launched the world's first permanent sale 7 days a wekk 'Happy Hour' innovation with fares from just $1! Virgin Atlantic introduces state of the art self service check in for all passengers. So who is Sir Richard Branson?
* Sir Richard Branson, Born 1950 Richard Branson was born in 1950 and educated at Stowe School. It was here that he began to set up Student Magazine when he was just 16. By 17 he'd also set up Student Advisory Centre, which was a charity to help young people. In 1970 he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and not long after he opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. During 1972 a recording studio was built in Oxfordshire, and the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded "Tubular Bells" which was released in 1973. This album went on to sell over 5 million copies! Since then many household names, including Belinda Carlisle, Genesis, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson and The Rolling Stones have helped to make Virgin Music one of the top six record companies in the world. The equity of Virgin Music Group - record labels, music publishing, and recording studios was sold to THORN EMI in 1992 in a US$1billion deal. The Virgin Group has now expanded into international music Megastores, air travel, mobile, financial, retail, music, internet, drinks, rail, hotels and leisure, with around 200 companies in over 30 countries. Yes, we've been busy!
Virgin Atlantic Airways, formed in 1984, is now the second largest British long haul international airline and operates a fleet of Boeing 747 and Airbus A340 aircraft to New York, Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Delhi, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Shanghai and the Caribbean. The airline is based on the concept of offering a competitive and high quality Upper Class, Premium Economy and Economy service. The airline has won many major awards, including Airline of the Year Award several times. During 1997 Virgin took over Britain's two most run-down rail franchises, CrossCountry and the West Coast Main Line. Virgin is currently engaged in a £2billion fleet replacement programme. In 2002, the combined sales of the different Virgin holding companies exceeded £4billion. In addition to his own business activities, Richard is a trustee of several charities including the Virgin Healthcare Foundation, a leading healthcare charity which was responsible for the launch of a health education campaign relating to AIDS in 1987. The Foundation has also become involved in a lobbying campaign called Parents Against Tobacco, which aims to restrict tobacco advertising and sponsorship in sport. His help in the initial funding of charity projects helped that organisation to raise over £100 million, through campaigns such as Comic Relief and many other charities. And to keep his adrenaline levels high, Richard has been involved in a number of world record-breaking attempts since 1985. In 1986 his boat, "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II" rekindled the spirit of the Blue Riband by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest ever recorded time. This was followed a year later by the epic hot air balloon crossing of the same ocean in "Virgin Atlantic Flyer". This was not only the first hot-air balloon to cross the Atlantic, but was the largest ever flown at 2.3 million cubic feet capacity, reaching speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour (209 k/ph). Still after the ultimate adventure, in January 1991 Richard crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, the furthest distance of 6,700 miles. Again, he broke all existing records, with speeds of up to 245 miles -per hour in a balloon of 2.6 million cubic feet. Between 1995 and 1998 Richard Branson, Per Lindstrand and Steve Fossett (who joined the team after the tragic death of Alex Ritchie), made a number of attempts to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. In late 1998 they made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii but their dream of a global flight was shattered by bad weather, and then a Swiss team successfully circumnavigated the globe in early 1999.
In December 1999, Richard Branson was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Millennium New Year's Honours List for "services to entrepreneurship". Well done, Sir!
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