Budget airline Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd
(ASX:VBA) CEO, John Borghetti has denied reports the airline plans to exit the leisure travel market, and flagged the company’s interest in forming new alliances.
Mr Borghetti has been undertaking a significant overhaul of the airline’s operations and has previously indicated he wishes to move the airline into a more business focused direction.
At a business gathering in Melbourne, however, he dismissed speculation the airline would completely exit the leisure market saying that Virgin Blue will remain a carrier that is focused on the leisure end, but is going to provide an alternative to the business traveller.
According to a report in The Australian, Mr Borghetti says some services may be cut or downgraded but denied rumours that V Australia would cut its routes to popular tourist destinations like Fiji and Phuket.
Mr Borghetti also indicated that the airline is looking for joint venture partners in international airlines, similar to those already announced with Air New Zealand and Delta Air Lines.
In other news, AirAsia says it is considering floating its subsidiary AirAsia X in the second half of the year to raise funds for expansion.
For the 2009 financial year, Virgin Blue posted a loss of $160 million.
