Virgin Atlantic to launch business class-only airline

London: Sir Richard Branson's airline Virgin Atlantic has said that it intends to launch an all-business class airline, flying between Europe and the US, within the next 12 to 18 months. Branson also said that Virgin was talking to manufacturers about a suitable aircraft, but did not reveal details about possible configurations or models.

A Virgin statement did say that the manufacturer would be one of the big four of the industry - Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier Inc or Embraer.

A Virgin statement said that the airline would fly initially from cities including Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Zurich non-stop to New York and other major destinations, as well as between London and the US.

'The new airline, which may also use the Virgin Atlantic name, will offer better quality than existing all-business carriers at the same or lower prices,' the statement said.

'We will set up and market one of these (business-only) airlines that will be competitive, although we don't want to compete with Virgin Atlantic,' aviation industry website Air & Business Travel News (ABTN) quoted Branson as saying. Branson was attending an event over the weekend in Nairobi, held to mark Virgin's launch of a daily service between London and the Kenyan capital.

Virgin's announcement comes in the wake of the launch of a number of business class-only airlines, including UK-based Silverjet Plc and EOS Airlines.