Branson’s airline saved as ruling caps race against clock

Richard Branson’s Virgin empire has faced many challenges in its five-decade history. The setbacks have been so numerous that overcoming them has become part of the Virgin DNA. Yet the six-month battle to save Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. has been a case apart, involving as it has the business that first truly took the group global and remains its best-known brand. The battle to stop the carrier from becoming one of the highest-profile corporate victims of the coronavirus crisis was finally sealed on Wednesday after a UK court gave the go-ahead for a GBP1.2b rescue built around a loan from private-equity firm Davidson Kempner Capital Management. The hard-won financing package emerged as the last, desperate option for saving the carrier after it became one of the few worldwide to be refused state support when Britain denied it access to the GBP330b Covid Corporate Financing Facility, a fund tapped by half a dozen airlines. The deal comes at a cost to Branson, who injected GBP200m of his own money into the company, raised through the sale of shares in Virgin Galactic Holdings. “Branson has shown that he has a real attachment to Virgin Atlantic,” said Stephen Furlong, an airline analyst at Davy Stockbrokers in Dublin. “It’s also central to the strength of the Virgin brand and its ability to generate royalties.” Virgin Atlantic’s challenge now will be to ride out the crisis with minimal cash burn as long-haul routes remain limited by border restrictions, while preserving flying rights at London Heathrow airport.<br/>