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September 27, 2004
Richard Bleedin' Branson
There are times when you just have to shake your head in disbelief at Richard Branson. I mean, sure he did a grand job in the music industry, and Virgin Atlantic has been a success, but his sense of timing is, on occasion, absolutely appaling.Today it was announced that he has signed a £14m agreement with Mojave Aerospace Ventures (the team behind SpaceShipOne)to build 5 spaceliners. Branson's intention is to charge about £100,000 per trip with the first flights starting in 3 years time.
Which is all very well, but then take a look at events closer to home. Today was supposed to be the start of Virgin's new high speed train service between London and Glasgow. Using high-tech tilting Pendolino trains, Virgin hoped to shave more than half an hour off the current timetable as passengers finally begin to see the benefits of the £7.6 billion upgrade to the West Coast Main Line. Unfortunately things didn't go according to plan, with the Royal Scot terminating at Carlise with a broken wheel. At the same time another Pendolino failed to start on the Holyhead-London run.
So the question is, would you pay £100,000 for a ticket on a spaceflight run by a company that can't even get rail passengers from London to Glasgow without significant technical problems?
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Posted by Clive on September 27, 2004 4:03 PM in the category Old Stuff