Branson in discussions for new Las Vegas resort

Friday, June 9, 2000 | 10:51 a.m.

Virgin Atlantic Airways Chairman Richard Branson, in Las Vegas for three days of partying to celebrate the kickoff of his company's nonstop air service to and from London, has meetings planned with local business people to explore building a resort here.

In an interview aboard a limousine from McCarran International Airport to the Four Seasons Hotel where he was staying, Branson said he couldn't disclose with whom he is meeting. But he does see a bright future for Las Vegas, which he declared "Virgin territory" when one of the company's Boeing 747 jumbo jets touched down just before 3:30 Thursday afternoon.

"I have three or four appointments to look at some fun ideas while I'm here," Branson said. "I don't think it would be a good idea for them to read about it in the newspaper before the meeting."

Branson, whose Virgin Group started as a mail-order record company in 1970, already owns five-star hotels in England, South Africa and Morocco. None of them have casinos, he said.

But Branson believes Virgin's corporate culture is a good match for Las Vegas and he's confident the twice-a-week flight schedule begun Thursday will soon expand to daily service.

Branson bases his confidence on favorable advanced bookings for the summer, the track record of another American resort city, Orlando, Fla., and an alliance the company announced Thursday with Las Vegas-based National Airlines.

Advanced bookings between Gatwick International Airport in London and Las Vegas already have surpassed company expectations for the summer months, Branson said.

David Tait, executive vice president of North American operations for the company, said when Virgin kicked off service from Great Britain to Orlando, it only took a year for the service to grow from four flights a week to seven. Within five years, Orlando had two daily flights and three years later, there were three.

National Airlines Chairman Mike Conway joined Branson in announcing a strategic alliance between the two carriers that will include a marketing agreement and the linking of the two airlines' respective frequent flier programs. Details of the plan, which would enable National passengers to redeem points earned for free flights on Virgin, have yet to be worked out. National's frequent-flier program is on a points system that awards participants based on the amount they pay for a flight; Virgin's program awards members for miles flown.

Conway said the alliance does not include a full-blown code-sharing agreement, which would enable both airlines to book flights on each other's planes. Such an agreement would have to be approved by aviation authorities in Great Britain and the United States.

But Conway is encouraged that the alliance will result in more Virgin passengers using National to fly within the United States, especially since the Las Vegas airline flies between most of Virgin's 10 U.S. gateways, which now includes McCarran International.

The arrival of the 422-passenger airliner at McCarran completed eight years of courting by Las Vegas officials. Branson acknowledged the initial meeting he had in 1993 with Stella Cleary-Ackland of Celet Travel, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's representative in London -- the first overture Las Vegas made to Great Britain's second-largest international air carrier.

In the ensuing years, Branson hosted LVCVA President Manny Cortez and other Las Vegas tourism executives at his home outside London to strategize how to initiate direct service between the two cities. Meanwhile, air service development officials attended dozens of government meetings on proposed "open-skies" agreements between Great Britain and the United States.

Such an agreement has not been reached, but Virgin got a break late last year when British Airways announced it was discontinuing its service between London and Pittsburgh. That slot gave Virgin the opening it needed to apply to government officials to kick off Las Vegas service.

One of the Las Vegas air service negotiators, McCarran's Harry Kassap, was on the inaugural flight and described it as a 10-hour party. Branson toured the entire plane during the flight, Kassap said, signing autographs and greeting a contingent of VIPs and 150 members of the British press.

When the plane arrived, Branson got on the intercom and declared Las Vegas "Virgin territory," then popped open the jumbo jet's hatch and waved British and Nevada flags above the fuselage.

High winds turned a planned water arch thrust over the jet by McCarran fire trucks into a fine mist that showered photographers and camera crews.

Branson emerged from the plane wearing sunglasses, glued-on sideburns and a bright red rhinestone-studded jumpsuit reminiscent of costumes worn by Elvis Presley. Two showgirls and a flurry of Las Vegas government leaders swarmed to greet the flamboyant executive, who has achieved as much fame as a record-setting balloonist as he has as a businessman.

Rossi Ralenkotter, vice president of marketing for the LVCVA, hailed the flight as a major milestone for Las Vegas. While the Virgin service is not the first nonstop scheduled service to and from Europe, it's the first from a major international carrier to a top European gateway. Condor Airlines offers seasonal nonstop flights between two destinations in Germany and Las Vegas and Citybird offered direct flights from Brussels, which have since been canceled.

Northwest Airlines and Japan Airlines have nonstop service between Tokyo and Las Vegas, thanks primarily to a trade mission to Asia by former Gov. Bob Miller that began two years ago to the date of the arrival of Virgin. Miller was on hand for the first Virgin flight. Today, there are eight nonstop flights a week to Las Vegas from Tokyo and All Nippon Airlines is investigating charter flights from Nagoya, Japan.

More new international service begins next week. AeroMexico will kick off daily nonstop flights between Hermosillo and Las Vegas on Thursday. While it won't get the fanfare the Virgin flight got, Cortez says the first scheduled daily service to that country may lead to more flights to larger population centers like Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Las Vegas has several balls in the air for other international service and different officials are working on different fronts to secure the next big international destination. Last week, Cortez and LVCVA spokesman Rob Powers were in Sydney, Australia, to open a Las Vegas office -- usually the first step toward generating interest among tour operators and air carriers.

Jane Wilson of the LVCVA recently completed a trip to Korea where she said enthusiasm was so great for a "Las Vegas Night" promotion that organizers had to turn the lights off in the hall to get people to leave the "casino" they had set up.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, who said her decision Thursday to wear a bright red suit similar to those worn by Virgin flight attendants was coincidental, combined a state visit for a government inaugural in Taiwan with a meeting with executives with China Airlines to encourage flights from Taipei. She said China Airlines officials are impressed with the success by Japan Airlines on its Tokyo flights.

Hunt said her efforts were focused on Taiwan and she knew of no overtures to mainland China, one of the largest emerging markets in the world.

Cortez said additional flights to Las Vegas' largest international market, Canada, are being explored and efforts are continuing in Central and South America as well as Mexico.

Efforts aren't as strong in other European destinations. Randy Walker, director of aviation for Clark County, said the opening of Milan, Italy's new airport was not as smooth as Italian officials had hoped and proposals for direct service from Italy to Las Vegas suffered a setback, he said. French air carriers also haven't expressed much interest in developing service to Las Vegas from Paris.

Developing emerging international markets is one of the LVCVA's growth strategies for the 21st century, Ralenkotter said. Between 1998 and 1999, visits from Japan increased nearly 40 percent, much of that attributed to the availability of direct flights.

"Having Virgin and a direct flight to London is big," Ralenkotter said. "It's a lot easier to sell the destination when we can show off the successes of Northwest, Japan Airlines and now Virgin."

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