Billionaire and serial airline starter Richard Branson now wants a piece of Brazil. He just announced that he's in talks with partners in the country to launch what we can only assume will be called Virgin Brazil.
He'll certainly need the help of locals: The nation only allows foreign investors to control 20 percent of a given domestic airline. That's a problem David Neeleman was able to avoid with his own new airline because the JetBlue founder has Brazilian citizenship.
Branson says talks are ongoing, which makes sense: It took Virgin America years to get off the ground because of foreign ownership concerns, hyped by already-established airlines in the US. We can't imagine TAM and Gol will be too keen to compete with him on their South American turf.
Related Stories:
· Virgin's Branson May Launch Brazilian Airline [Reuters]
· Rampant Speculation: A Neeleman-Branson Airline? [Jaunted]
· Richard Branson's Indian Dream [Jaunted]
[Photo: Jaunted]]]>