Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson yesterday celebrated the 21st birthday of his airline Virgin Atlantic with a special flight to commemorate its first ever journey between London and New York.
A jumbo jet was renamed "Birthday Girl" to mark the occasion. Sir Richard said: "It has been an eventful 21 years."
The airline has grown from one aircraft in 1984 to Britain's second largest airline with a fleet of 32 and more than 8,000 staff, the tycoon said.
He added: "There have been very tough times over the years for both Virgin Atlantic and the industry as a whole and it is testament to the airline and its staff that it has managed to survive when so many other airlines have failed."
Over the last 21 years Virgin has carried 40 million passengers.
The airline plans to double in size over the next five years and is launching a service to Nigeria later this month. ..SUPL:
