Abstract
Virgin Atlantic Airways set out on its inaugural voyage in 1984 from London Gatwick to Newark in New York, the US, after a set up period of three months, and only with one aircraft. In the modern days, it runs an extended fleet of 30 aircrafts and an impressive 26 more to 22 destinations around the world, the Airways even made a pre-tax profit of £20.9 million in 2004. It has not been easy for it in becoming the second largest airline in Britain. In fact, it has been an uphill struggle fighting against the Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA), and the British Airways (BA), who had an effective monopoly in the British aviation market until the competition of Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA) improved, and who were not keen to release their competitive advantage. In order to succeed where others had failed, Branson needed a good leadership strategy in order to manage the strategic changes and also the flexibility of the company. From 1989 to 1993, the founder and CEO of the the Airways, Richard Branson led his company in a time of financial pressure and unfair competition in the dirty tricks campaign the BA carried out. And so the Virgin Atlantic Airways, after a long struggle, has become the second largest airline in Britain.
