Branson heads for clash over Sydney-LA

VIRGIN boss Sir Richard Branson is on a collision course with partner Singapore International Airlines over plans to launch a new Australian international carrier targeting the lucrative Sydney-Los Angeles route which SIA has been lobbying Canberra for years to open to it.

'I think the Australian government needs to decide - if there are other Australian airlines that want to set up and fly - whether it is better to give those Australian airlines the rights or whether to give Singapore Airlines the rights. Or whether to do both,' Branson told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Singapore is Branson's partner in Virgin Atlantic with a 49% stake.

Branson hopes to have the airline, which would compete with Qantas, flying within nine months focusing on the US, China and Japan.

'Whether we look at it with our Virgin Blue hat on or a separate hat on is still to be decided. My guess is that it will be likely to be separate from Virgin Blue,' he said.

Branson glossed over the tussle with Virgin Blue partner Patrick Corp, which has won management control of the airline.

Patrick chief Chris Corrigan pounced after a second warning from Virgin Blue boss Brett Godfrey suggesting the airline's net profits could fall by 15% this year, pushed its shares lower.

The £452m bid closed on Friday, leaving Patrick with 62.42% voting rights. Virgin Group, with 25.6%, and Godfrey, with 3.2%, refused to sell their stakes. Despite previously castigating Corrigan for his 'opportunistic' bid, Branson said: 'It's fantastic to have somebody of Chris's calibre as chairman of a company we own a quarter of.'

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