Virgin orders 26 planes from Airbus

The airline controlled by billionaire Richard Branson Virgin Atlantic, has ordered 26 A340-600 planes from Airbus SAS worth about €4.56bn as it seeks to double in size over the next five years.

Virgin Atlantic chose planes from Airbus, the world’s largest maker of commercial aircraft, over those from Boeing because passengers prefer the four engines of the A340s to the two engines on Boeing’s 777, Mr Branson said in an interview.