Virgin and EasyJet are to team up with an Asian airline to create the world's first budget global network, it has been reported. Richard Branson's Virgin and and EasyJet's Stelios Haji-Ioannou will join forces with AirAsia to form a Malaysia-based alliance, the country's Star newspaper said. It quoted unidentified industry sources as saying the new joint venture would first fly between Kuala Lumpur and Manchester, and Amritsar in India.
The alliance - if it flies to London as well - could also use Luton airport as a hub because Virgin already operated a rail link from there to central London, the paper said.
Fares to Britain will be between £43 and £365, about half the price of a ticket on a regular airline, it added.
It said the alliance would give Virgin and EasyJet access to Kuala Lumpur's low-cost airport terminal, an Asian hub for their Europe-to-Australia routes.