Virgin Blue rebrands as Virgin Australia
Virgin Blue rebranded its short-haul operations Virgin Australia today (04-May-2011) with a new livery, brand and product as it takes the battle to its larger rival and increase its share of Australia's corporate travel market. Shares in the carrier were flat in early afternoon trading on the ASX.
Virgin Blue Group CEO John Borghetti and Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson unveiled a B737 and A330 at Sydney Airport, which carry the airline's new livery and the narrowbody aircraft version of its business class. Hans Hulsbosch, who has also worked extensively with Qantas, was responsible for the new branding, which will unite the fragmented branding of the company, split between Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue, and make the airline more appealing to the higher yielding a less price elastic corporate market.