Thursday, April 24, 2008

I don't know a whole lot about Richard Branson, other than he is very successful at most whatever he touches. I like his idea of breaking into and expanding his work in the airline industry:

Experiencing the future as Branson imagines it will cost you less than $300, the price of a bare-bones economy ticket between Los Angeles and New York City on one of Virgin America's 149-seat A320s. The planes are new, and the leather seats are comfortable enough for sleeping, even in coach. There are power outlets at every seat. The most profound change, though, doesn't look like much of an improvement at first. Like many U.S. carriers, Virgin America charges for food in economy class. But flight attendants don't dole it out from a cart like gruel in the orphanage; a touchscreen at each seat lets passengers pick what they want and pay by credit card. A few minutes after I swiped my card, an attendant brought my fruit-and-cheese box and a glass of cabernet to my seat. The food was fine, but what I remember more was the simple pleasure of getting what I wanted when I wanted it, freed from the Sisyphean tyranny of the cart...

But, it seems, don't be fooled by his "green ideals"...

His pledge to devote all the profits from his transportation businesses to fighting global warming, for example, is actually just a decision to channel some of Virgin Group's money, up to $3 billion over a decade, into a wide range of environmental companies, some of them as prosaic as a start-up that aims to reduce fuel costs through safer driving.

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