Branson launches Virgin Atlantic flights to Australia

In a flurry of publicity gimmicks that have become his trademark, British entrepreneur Richard Branson launched the first Virgin Atlantic flights from London to Sydney today, vowing to break the hold British Airways and Qantas have on the long-distance route.

Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic, disembarked from the inaugural flight from London, balancing on the aircraft’s wing carrying a surfboard and flanked by models in bikinis. He later posed with a cardboard cut-out of Geoff Dixon, poking fun at an earlier declaration by the Qantas chief executive officer that Virgin would never fly to Australia.