Adrian Loveridge Column – Virgin Power

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The news that Virgin Atlantic has secured private recovery funding has to be good news, especially for Barbados and throughout the Caribbean. The thought of returning to a single air carrier ‘monopoly’ on any given route nowadays is simply not desirable, if we are going to ever contemplate operating in a competitive tourism world.

According to multiple sources the private-only rescue deal with shareholders and creditors is worth US$1.5 billion and intended to secure the airline’s future beyond the coronavirus crisis. The restructuring plan was supported by a majority of shareholders and is expected to come into effect in late summer 2020. Much of the funding will come from existing shareholders – the Virgin Group will invest GB Pounds 200 million with Delta Airlines and others deferring or waiving outstanding payments.

A new investor, the hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management will lend a quoted GB Pounds 170 million. Virgin Atlantic said ‘the deal will pave the way for the airline to return to profitability in 2022’. To secure approval from all relevant creditors before implementation, the proposed plan will go through a court-sanctioning process with recapitalization expected to come into effect during late summer 2020.

Commenting on the news, Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) stated ‘the last six months have been the toughest we have faced in our 36 year history. We have taken painful measures, but we have accomplished what many thought impossible’.

Virgin’s flights will resume later this month from London’s Heathrow and Manchester airport, with the possibility of increased connectivity.  Once the massive Crossrail project and the new Elizabeth Line become fully operational it will become substantially easier and quicker for many people to access the London flight departure point. The installation of new ultra violet sanitation equipment together with existing facial recognition, thermostat reading technology and contactless security procedure at Heathrow will also give enhanced safety assurance to the travelling public.

Virgin Atlantic’s original appeal to the British Government for economic assistance fell on deaf ears despite the fact that it is one of the largest beneficiaries through the collection of the Advanced Passenger Duty (APD) and other taxes.  We are now left to wonder if this hugely deterrent levy with be reduced or totally eliminated to give Virgin and other airlines the hope for long term survival.

Virgin’s retirement of their last four-engine fleet of B747 and A340’s will also enable them to put more fuel efficient aircraft on many routes which could well mean that Barbados will be served by the B787 Dreamliner, from Heathrow, ensuring a faster flight time and increased seat availability over the previously used A330’s that operated from Gatwick.

The Virgin brand has developed an enviable and incredibly loyal following over decades. Let us hope that this latest development will help drive many returning visitors over the months to come.

27 thoughts on “Adrian Loveridge Column – Virgin Power”


  1. On the subject of airlines:

    Happy recovery for OSA.

    Did the angry LIAT customers sent him their claims for unused tickets to his private address in Barbados?

    Just asking.

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  2. “Bahamas closes borders to US tourists.”

    Take note Mia. The Bahamas has seen an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases since opening its borders on July1 st. This increase has prompted it to close its borders to US tourists which – no doubt – will be extended to Covid-19 Brits and other nationalities who have high infectious levels.

    Accept that the tourist trade will remain in lockdown for a further 12 – 18months and look at developing alternative industries.

    https://opm.gov.bs/national-address/

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  5. Uh-oh!

    Seems like every flight is bringing COVID with it. Another import today. This time from Canada.

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  8. @ David,

    The covid Czar stated “Barbados was doing what was in the interest of its people and the nurses (Cuban) would remain here “because we expect we will have more cases and we are a tourism-based country which depended on almost 40 per cent of GDP”. (source: The Nation)

    Does this make sense David? We are happy to import the covid-19 virus provided we have nurses to look after the infected. This simply does not make any sense. We need to distance our country from this useless tourist industry. Why would a reasonable country allow entry to virus carriers? Think about it.

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  9. Can we stop bajan nationals from returning?

    The tourist are being tested before leaving their destinations

    It the returning/visiting bajans that will be the most likely infected

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  11. @DonnaJuly 20, 2020 5:09 PM

    The immune system consists of many elements. Most studies focus only on antibodies, which in fact seem to disappear.

    The problem is therefore such vaccines that only stimulate the production of antibodies. But even a vaccine that only works for half a year instead of 10 years would be a great advance.

    However, before we have a vaccine, I think that the entry of people from the USA and the UK is highly problematic.

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  13. @David July 21, 2020 5:16 AM

    Excellent article Marla Dukharan. However did she jump out of the T&T POT into the Barbados FIRE with respect to crime and murders.

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  14. How can one reasonably compare crimes and murders committed in Barbados to crime and murders committed in T&T……. to imply it’s worse here than there?

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  17. BU asked above: “Suppose no cure or therapy is found? We remain in lockdown forever?”

    Potential Good News on that front. Reports of Ozone Therapy as a cheap, efficient method of treating Covid-19 and its complications appears to be leaking out, despite the best efforts of the DEA, FDA, their Big-Pharm string pullers/bosses and “Vaccinator-in-Chief” Bill Gates, his associates and fellow vaccination profiteers who continue to squelch news about any easily and cheaply accessible methods of treatment for Covid-19 leaking out to the unwashed masses.

    Imagine the horror (among that aforementioned crowd) if the world found out there was an effective and easily provided treatment which could obviate the need to pay out billions for undertested and potentially dangerous, rushed into production vaccines which Dr. Fauci recently admitted might only be 70% effective. For icing on the cake, Bill Gates has stated that since vaccine injuries will be unavoidable, governments world-wide must agree to indemnify the manufacturers against monetary compensation awards for any Covid-19 vaccine caused injuries or damages.

    Latest Post from California, USA based MD and Integrative Medicine practitioner Dr. Robert J. Rowen (posted to his facebook page):

    [blockquote]Wonderful News on Ozone and COVID Just Published

    Last March, Dr.Robins joined me in publishing why ozone made sense in treating COVID. I publicly stated that I would be willing to go anywhere to treat hospitalized COVID with ozone, and not even charge. Messages regarding ozone therapy were delivered to the highest officials of states and this nation, and to just about every press outlet you can imagine. There has been no response, hundreds of thousands of Americans are dead, and the economy is devastated. None of this had to happen.

    Just published is a harbinger of what will be an increasing torrent of work with ozone on COVID. This report features “UNTREATABLE” COVID pneumonia in 3 patient that RAPIDLY cleard (sic) and none of them required a ventilator. The second study is a small prosepcive (sic) report on ozone for COVID that has not been peer reviewed yet. And, as you know, Dr. Brownstein’s team and I published on 107 patients in an outpatient setting, only one needed hospitalization and all surviving. I even videoed a document (sic) COVID patient whose symptoms vanished on my treatment chair, and YouTube removed it within 5 minutes.

    My official comment. I do believe there is nefarious conspiracy in the government, media, authorities, disease maintenance (medical) world stonewalling and blacklisting ozone (and hydrogen peroxide, and MMS). The USA has gone many trillions further into debt and many, many lives lost unnecessarily, all the while our leaders have begged for a treatment for this “untreatable” disease. The problem is that a real curative treatment does not fit their paradigm, and wrests control out of the hands of Pharma. (My emphasis /GM) How else but by considering a coordinated hidden plot can we explain all of these “coincidences” leading to death, economic ruin, and vaccination, when there is a dirt cheap fix that’s been around since the time of Tesla and before.

    The fear and hysteria could have been quelled quickly. Instead, it has been malevolently (in my opinion) amplified. I sent my work to the state agency soliciting ideas for COVID and was “politely” told, “NOT INTERESTED”. Meanwhile, our state is closing down again and catastrophe looms.
    [/blockquote]

    Continued at: https://www.facebook.com/DrRobertJRowen/posts/1327619610769370?tn=K-R

    The two links to reports of Ozone Treatments’ successes provided in Dr. Rowen’s post are:
    .amjcaserep(DOT)com/abstract/index/idArt/925849?fbclid=IwAR11Ko67aVNL2ruEbwKHm_X4jBnQZPOX1L3sUniJWvidWTDR9O50yujtQho

    medrxiv(DOT)org/content/10.1101/2020.06.03.20117994v2?fbclid=IwAR3x0fJXulkuVK2ps2uNhJLhSB9KuW9p0Win3kgO0Es7IkpDKAeSNtyDjUo

    In addition to the two links above provided by Dr. Rowen, here is another link describing successful use of ozone therapy to treat Covi-19 in trials at two European hospitals, one each in Italy and Spain:

    theibizan(DOT)com/ozone-therapy-proving-successful-in-covid-19-patients/

    The web site for Dr. Rowen’s California clinic is: DrrowenDrSu(DOT)com

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  19. @David

    “There is no comparison”

    Agree for the moment, however Barbados is very resourceful in the areas of CRIME & CURRUPTION, they’ll quickly catch up to T&T in short order. If someone could TRUTHFULLY provide crime statistics for Barbados over the last 10 years or so the obvious would be presented. Do not want to hear the usual reported political massaged crap though.

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  20. @ David

    Of course there isn’t any comparison.

    However, although your friend Mr. Coyote has “agreed for the moment,” based on his comment re “If someone could TRUTHFULLY provide crime statistics for Barbados over the last 10 years or so the obvious would be presented,” it’s obvious he isn’t entirely convinced.

    How can any individual reasonably and rationally form a definitive opinion regarding “crime and murders”…… and now corruption…. WITHOUT analysing the relevant statistics for both POS and BGI…….. then hope “someone could truthfully PROVIDE crime stats” to more or less validate that opinion, which, in the absence of stats, was obviously based on ‘gut feelings’ rather than known facts?

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  21. Please consider the following phrases and discard the old phrase “gut feelings”..
    Alternative facts supported by alternative stats

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  22. Sneaky move, says Franklyn

    Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn has questioned Government’s motives for an adjustment made to a section of the Remote Employment Bill, 2020, debated in the Senate Wednesday.
    The bill details conditions for the granting of the 12-Month Welcome Stamp Visa through which visitors will be able to work remotely from Barbados for one year. It is an initiative which has garnered widespread interest and support, but Franklyn expressed concern about the lastminute change of the term “spouse” to “partner” made to the visa application form, a feature which he contended was not in the original bill.
    Originally, a spouse was defined as “the relationship that subsists between a man and a woman” who are legally married or are not married but have cohabited continuously for five years, including the years leading up to the application. This drew criticism from members
    of the local and international gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community when the application form was published online on Monday.
    As a result, the word “spouse” as defined in the original form was subsequently replaced with the word “partner”. Franklyn suggested this was an attempt by Government to “sneak” same-sex unions “through the back door”.
    “Are we trying by this piece of legislation to get something through the back door. When we are doing things like this, don’t sneak a little one past us, because the part with partners is sneaking something past not only us here, it is past the country. We should be bold enough and tell the country what we intend to do, not sneak it in,” the outspoken senator insisted.
    He charged it was Government’s “way of bringing same-sex partners into this country legally without the population having a say”.
    Franklyn declared he
    was “open-minded” on the issue of samesex unions, but said Government should let the country know what it was “proposing” in this regard.
    He, however, gave his support to the bill, telling the Senate: “I have no difficulty with the bill; I understand what we are doing here and why”.
    The bill was eventually passed. ( GC)

    Source: Nation Newspaper

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  23. Butch Stewart still is bullish on tourism.

    Sandals taking over St Vincent resort

    KINGSTOWN – Sandals, one of the biggest names in the hotel business in the Caribbean, has signed a deal with the St Vincent and the Grenadines government for the acquisition of Buccament Bay Resort, which has been closed since December 2016 after months of financial problems.

    Deputy chairman of Sandals Resort International, Adam Stewart, and Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves on Wednesday signed the contract at the resort, located on the south-western coast of the island.

    Stewart said the new entity will be operated under Sandals’ Beaches Resortbrand, which caters to families, and will have between 330 and 350 suites ranging from one to five bedrooms.

    It is expected that nationals will make up 700 of the 1 000 people to be employed

    at the resort.

    “Your island is beyond extraordinary. Our relationship with the team members that already work in our company, from your beautiful country is nothing short of world class,” Stewart said.

    “We . . . feel and commit that we are going to be your best partner in tourism. We cannot help you in certain other industries, but in hospitality we’re going to bring something to this destination that’sgoing to uplift, not Buccament Bay, not only Sandals Resorts International, specifically Beaches, but we expect every tide in tourism to rise with us as we play our part to bring accelerated airlift, training and development – non-bonded – for any and everyone who walks through the future of what we’re going to build here,” Stewart said.

    He said that while St

    Vincent and the Grenadines is the all-inclusive resorts’ eighth Caribbean country with a Sandals resort, the Buccament Bay property “will accelerate the love affair that we have had not just with the Caribbean, but specifically the Eastern Caribbean”. (CMC)

    Source: Nation Newspaper

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  24. I have checked out the covid19 test situation and reporting in Ontario. First, there are many sites to get a test. Many are assessment sites which means someone will make a assessment as to whether you need a test or not. So you have to be prepared to be examined and have a good reasons for requiring a test. You can also get a test by finding a walk in clinic that does travel vaccines. These are mostly by appointment. Every covid test taken in Ontario is sent to one of 6 Government approved labs. Presently the Ontario Government web site states that it will take up to 4 days (96 hours ) to get test results. Test results are published on the Government of Ontario website. From there you download the result of the test. If you get tested in perhaps the town of Parry Sound their lead time for a published result is up to 10 days.

    So what does this mean. If you need a negative test within 72 hours to get into Barbados and the test is taken within 72 hours but the results are published over 96 hours, then there is a 25% chance you will not have your test results at the time you need them to get on a flight and enter Barbados. So on any given flight of 150 people about 38 people will not have test results with them, even though they took the test. Of course it could also be that a number of people did not bother to take a test at all and as well, perhaps people took a test, tested positive and decided to take the trip anyway hoping that a second test given at BGI is negative.

    Bottom line 25% chance you will need to get a test at BGI. My short research of this only dealt with the Province of Ontario.

    If anyone has any information on how to get a fairly instant covid test would love to hear from them.

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