Branson 
insists he will keep 
control of 
Virgin

“Rumours have been spread in the press that I am planning to give up control of Virgin Atlantic and, according to Willie Walsh ... that our brand will soon disappear. This is wishful thinking and totally misguided,” Branson said yesterday.

Delta is in talks with Singapore Airlines about buying its 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic, which Branson set up in 1984.

IAG chief executive Walsh told the Daily Telegraph that Delta’s main interest in Virgin Atlantic was its lucrative slots at London’s Heathrow airport and the US carrier would not want to keep the Virgin brand.

Separately yesterday, a source familiar with Branson’s thinking told Reuters that Virgin Atlantic would form a joint venture on transatlantic flights with Delta if the US carrier bought Singapore Airlines’ stake in the British carrier.

Delta and Virgin Atlantic’s plan to set up a revenue-sharing deal on flights between Britain and the United States would involve code-sharing, allowing both to sell flights on the other airline and share revenues from ticket sales, the source said.

The joint venture could lead to the pair sharing costs and bringing prices and schedules into line, the source said.

The partnership would be similar to that operated by American Airlines and IAG’s British Airways since 2010 on transatlantic flights between Canada, Mexico, the United States and many European cities.

Delta has long hoped to break into capacity-constrained Heathrow.

Virgin Atlantic is currently the second-largest carrier at the airport after BA.

A combination with Delta, the second-largest US airline by revenue after United Continental, would be a shot in the arm for Virgin Atlantic, which has been battered both by rising fuel prices and the eurozone crisis.

The airline posted an £80m loss in its last full year.