Richard Branson Is Designing The Future Of Travel | Condé Nast Traveler

Summary

In this engaging conversation, Sir Richard Branson reflects on the origins and innovations of his travel ventures, including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Voyages, and Virgin Galactic. He discusses his frustration with air travel that led to the creation of Virgin Airlines, the importance of making travel more eco-friendly, and his vision for the future of transportation, including space travel. Branson also highlights Virgin's efforts to improve communities, reduce environmental impact, and push for progressive social changes. He emphasizes the value of human connection and sustainable innovation in shaping a better world for future generations.

Takeaways

• ✈️ Richard Branson entered the travel business due to frustration when American Airlines bumped him off a flight.
• 💡 He started Virgin Airlines by hiring a plane and selling $39 tickets as a joke, which quickly sold out.
• 🌍 Virgin Atlantic changed the airline industry by focusing on passenger experience, influencing other airlines.
• ♻️ Branson is focused on making air travel environmentally friendly by exploring alternative fuels and carbon fiber planes.
• 🛳️ Virgin Voyages was designed as a cruise line for adults, offering a luxury experience without children.
• 🏝️ Branson's vision includes sustainable energy islands to fuel cruise ships with hydrogen and reduce plastic waste.
• 🌱 Virgin focuses on supporting communities around its properties, like building schools and clinics in South Africa.
• 🚀 Virgin Galactic aims to offer extraordinary space travel experiences, with long-term visions of space hotels and trips to Mars.
• 🌐 Branson advocates for a world without borders, where people can live, work, and travel freely.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Branson hopes his grandchildren will grow up in a world where Virgin helps make positive environmental and social changes.

Q & A

What inspired Richard Branson to start his travel business?

Richard Branson was inspired to start his travel business out of frustration when he was bumped from a flight in the Caribbean. He chartered a plane, offered $39 one-way tickets, and jokingly called it 'Virgin Airlines.' This experience led him to start Virgin Atlantic.

What was Boeing’s reaction when Branson inquired about purchasing a 747?

When Branson called Boeing to ask if they had any second-hand 747s for sale, they agreed to send a salesman as long as he promised not to call the airline 'Virgin,' assuming the business wouldn’t succeed. Despite this, Branson purchased the plane and successfully launched Virgin Atlantic.

How did Virgin Atlantic contribute to changes in the airline industry?

Virgin Atlantic offered an improved flying experience that people loved, which pushed other airlines to emulate their customer service and innovation, thereby improving the overall industry.

What steps is Virgin taking to make air travel more environmentally friendly?

Virgin is focusing on making air travel more sustainable by exploring alternative fuels, using carbon fiber in airplane construction, and working with companies like Boeing to reduce carbon emissions. Planes like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 are now at least 50% carbon fiber, reducing their environmental impact.

What are Branson's views on hydrogen as a fuel for long-haul flights?

Branson believes hydrogen is too heavy for long-haul flights and sees alternative fuels as a better solution. However, hydrogen may work for smaller, short-haul planes.

How did Branson's personal view of cruises lead to the creation of Virgin Voyages?

Branson initially had a negative view of cruises, imagining long lines for buffets. However, after brainstorming with friends, he envisioned a more luxurious, adult-only cruise experience, akin to Abramovich's yacht but for more people. This concept led to the creation of Virgin Voyages.

What makes Virgin Voyages different from other cruise lines?

Virgin Voyages differentiates itself by offering an adult-only experience, focusing on fitness, wellness, and luxury. The ships feature amenities like running tracks, basketball courts, and high-end workout and massage rooms, catering specifically to adults.

What is Branson's vision for the future of space travel and hotels in space?

Branson fantasizes about building a hotel off the moon with small spaceships for travel around the moon. He envisions space tourism growing significantly, and he hopes to see this happen within his lifetime if environmental costs can be reduced and prices become more affordable.

How is Virgin Orbit contributing to environmental monitoring?

Virgin Orbit has launched satellites that monitor rainforests, illegal fishing, and other environmental activities. These satellites travel at 17,500 miles per hour around Earth, providing valuable data for environmental protection efforts.

What is Branson's utopian vision for the future of global travel and borders?

Branson imagines a world where borders are less significant, and people can freely travel, live, work, and marry in any country. He hopes for a more united world where these freedoms are possible within the next 50 years.

Outlines

00:00

✈️ The Birth of Virgin Airlines and the Future of Air Travel

In this section, Sir Richard Branson shares the origin story of Virgin Airlines. It began as a spontaneous solution to a frustrating situation when American Airlines bumped passengers in the Caribbean. Branson hired a plane, jokingly named it 'Virgin Airlines,' and successfully sold out his first flight. This led him to buy a second-hand Boeing 747, and Virgin Atlantic soon became known for providing an experience that revolutionized the airline industry. Branson discusses the industry's environmental impact, emphasizing the importance of reducing carbon emissions and exploring innovative solutions such as carbon fiber planes and alternative fuels. He believes hydrogen planes will be viable for short-haul flights, though long-haul may rely on other fuel alternatives. His passion for making air travel eco-friendly highlights his commitment to combating climate change.

05:00

🏞️ Virgin’s Ethical Business Practices and Global Vision

Branson describes Virgin’s approach to business, focusing on community support around its properties, such as their Ulusaba property in South Africa. They have implemented initiatives like the Bhubezi Clinic to help local communities. He envisions a future where borders matter less, and people have the freedom to travel, work, and live globally without restrictions. Additionally, he mentions Virgin's hotel experiments, where the company seeks to extend the seamless customer experience from airlines to hotels, with new properties in cities like Chicago, Las Vegas, Edinburgh, and New York.

Keywords

💡Travel Industry

The travel industry refers to businesses and services that cater to transportation, lodging, and other travel-related needs. In the video, Richard Branson discusses his entry into the travel business through his airline and cruise ventures, highlighting how he aimed to improve the customer experience by addressing inefficiencies and frustrations, such as being bumped from flights.

💡Virgin Airlines

Virgin Airlines is the airline company founded by Richard Branson. It started as a joke when he hired a plane after being bumped from a flight and offered $39 tickets to other stranded passengers. This company later revolutionized air travel by focusing on customer experience, setting new standards that competitors tried to emulate.

💡Carbon Fiber Planes

Carbon fiber is a strong, lightweight material that has been increasingly used in aircraft construction to reduce weight and carbon emissions. Branson references the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, a plane made entirely of carbon fiber, to show the potential of this material to lower environmental impact. The concept has influenced modern planes like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350.

💡Hydrogen Power

Hydrogen power refers to the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel source, particularly in transportation. Branson mentions how small hydrogen planes might become common in the near future and explores the potential of hydrogen in long-haul travel and cruise ships, despite the challenges posed by its weight for long flights.

💡Environmental Responsibility

Environmental responsibility involves taking actions to reduce harm to the environment. Throughout the video, Branson emphasizes the importance of reducing the carbon footprint of air and sea travel. He speaks about Virgin's efforts to make air travel more eco-friendly, such as by reducing single-use plastics on Virgin Voyages and experimenting with hydrogen for cruise ships.

💡Virgin Voyages

Virgin Voyages is Branson's cruise line designed with a focus on providing unique experiences for adults. Unlike traditional cruises, Virgin Voyages excludes children, which allows for more space for adult-friendly amenities, such as fitness centers and spas. Branson wanted to create a cruise experience that avoided the common stereotype of buffet lines and instead offered luxury and relaxation.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability refers to practices that avoid the depletion of natural resources and reduce environmental impact. Branson discusses how Virgin Voyages incorporates sustainability, such as eliminating single-use plastics, and how the company is exploring hydrogen power for cruise ships. Sustainability is framed as a key challenge and opportunity for the future of travel.

💡Carbon War Room

The Carbon War Room is an initiative started by Richard Branson to encourage businesses to adopt carbon-neutral practices. It focuses on finding market-driven solutions to reduce carbon emissions globally. In the video, Branson mentions this effort as one of Virgin's broader contributions to combating climate change.

💡Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic is Branson’s space tourism company that aims to offer commercial spaceflights. In the video, he expresses his vision of giving people extraordinary experiences in space, including potential future projects like a hotel near the moon. He discusses how the company's motto is to be 'a space line for Earth,' making space more accessible while lowering its environmental costs.

💡Community Support

Community support involves efforts to improve the well-being of local populations. Branson highlights Virgin's commitment to community support, such as their work around properties like Ulusaba in South Africa, where they have built clinics and schools for local communities. This approach reflects Virgin’s broader mission to leave a positive impact on the world.

Highlights

Richard Branson founded Virgin Airlines out of frustration after being bumped by American Airlines and hiring a plane to transport stranded passengers.

Branson's first Virgin flight sold out, leading him to buy a second-hand Boeing 747 and officially launch Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic changed the airline industry by offering a better customer experience that competitors began to emulate.

Branson emphasizes the importance of making air travel environmentally friendly, with a focus on reducing carbon emissions through innovative materials like carbon fiber.

The Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, built from carbon fiber, circumnavigated the globe, inspiring major manufacturers to incorporate carbon fiber into planes like the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350.

Branson predicts the rise of hydrogen-powered planes in the next five years, although alternative fuels may be better suited for long-haul flights.

Virgin Voyages, Branson’s cruise line, differentiates itself by offering a more adult-oriented experience, eliminating buffets and providing high-end amenities like workout rooms and massage spaces.

Virgin Voyages aims to make its cruise ships more sustainable, avoiding single-use plastics and exploring hydrogen power as a future energy source.

Branson's vision for future travel involves a seamless experience from airlines to hotels, exemplified by Virgin's expansion into the hotel business in cities like Chicago, Las Vegas, and New York.

Branson’s utopian vision for the world includes open borders, freedom of movement, and unrestricted opportunities to live, work, and marry anywhere in the world.

Branson sees a bright future for space travel, with a long-term vision of space hotels and trips around the moon, though he acknowledges these dreams might not happen in his lifetime.

Virgin Orbit's satellites monitor environmental activities like rainforest conservation and illegal fishing, reflecting Branson's commitment to leveraging space technology for Earth's benefit.

Branson's Global Drug Commission advocates treating drug addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal offense, promoting a shift in government policies.

Branson advocates for leadership through listening and taking action based on feedback, noting that he personally takes notes from staff and passengers to improve his businesses.

The ultimate goal of Virgin, according to Branson, is to make the world better for future generations, especially his grandchildren, by contributing to environmental and social causes.

Transcripts

- My name is Branson,

Sir Richard Branson.

And I'm here to talk to you about the future of travel.

[brass music]

[upbeat music]

I was drawn to going into the travel business

out of pure frustration.

I was actually in the Caribbean

trying to get from one island to another,

and American Airlines decided to bump us all.

So I hired a plane and I scribble on the backboard

$39 one way to the BVI,

and went around all the people who got bumped,

and as a joke, I put Virgin airlines at the top,

and I sold out my first plane.

The next morning I rang up Boeing and said

"Do you have any second hand 747s for sale?"

Their response was,

"We'll send a salesman to see you,

as long as you promise not to call it Virgin."

Because they'd assume it won't go the whole way.

So anyway, we ended up with a second hand 747,

we offered an experience that people love,

and other airlines started to try to emulate it.

And I think the team at Virgin Atlantic can have some credit

for really changing the industry for the better.

I think what the public want

is to get rid of the guilt feeling of flying on airplanes.

I mean, we are spending a lot of time and energy

trying to work out ways of

making air travel environmentally friendly.

And I think that if we can do that,

that will matter a lot for a lot of people.

We had a meeting with Boeing today where we were saying,

"Could we have more carbon fiber in the planes?"

Many years ago, we flew a plane called

the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer nonstop around the world.

And that plane was built completely of carbon fiber.

We did that so that we could then

take Boeing an Airbus to Mohave

to show them that you could build planes with carbon fiber,

and that by building planes with carbon fiber

the amount of carbon output that you would have

would be negligible compared to what it was before.

And now,

planes like the 787 or the A350 Airbus

are at least 50% carbon fiber.

You're gonna see some very small hydrogen planes

in the next five years.

On long haul I think it's gonna have to be

alternative fuels,

I think hydrogen is just gonna be too heavy for long haul.

All these things are fairly unsexy,

but we're just sitting in a world

which is suffering from enormous heat waves

throughout Europe,

and it's really important that people like myself

and others who may be in a position to push here or there

are at least pushing.

A notebook is

the most valuable weapon that anybody can have

who runs a company.

I'll make sure I say hello to all the passengers,

I'll talk to all the staff, and I'll take notes.

I'll act on those notes when I get back

and I'll follow through and just be a good listener.

Going on a cruise has never really appealed to me.

The image I got of cruises would be queuing up for buffets.

And one day we just got out a big sheet of white paper

with a bunch of friends.

I'd never been on a cruise.

And we just said, "Right, let's list all the things

that we'd really love a cruise company to be."

In a nutshell, what we ended up deciding was

Abramovich's yacht, but for more people.

And there's no question that

by not allowing children it's differentiated Virgin Voyages

from pretty well every other cruise company.

But it's also given us the space

to have running tracks, to have basketball,

to have incredible workout rooms, incredible massage rooms,

all the things that adults want.

So I've been involved in a lot of businesses over the years

all because I felt they could be done better.

Cruise is a lot easier than airplanes

to retrofit with hydrogen because they got more space.

I had a conference on Necker last week

about creating islands in the north sea and other places

where the islands would have windmills, and solar,

and make hydrogen, so that cruise ships and other ships

could just drive up to the islands

and pick up their hydrogen.

In the meantime,

we had the advantage being a new cruise ship,

we could just get all the basic things

like single use plastic sorted,

and I think the team had done a good job there.

- Hi, I'm Jesse Ashlock,

the deputy global editorial director at Condé Nast Traveler.

And I'm here with Richard aboard the Scarlet Lady,

the first cruise ship in his new cruise line,

Virgin Voyages.

So good to be here with you.

- It's always an honor to be with Condé Nast Traveler.

- Thank you for saying that.

So you were telling me a little bit

about your grandchildren,

about some of the things that Virgin has done

to make the world a little better.

What else is Virgin as a company doing

to leave the world better for your grandkids?

- I hope they will find this sort of same fascination

of going to places like Africa or India or south America

that I found most fascinating.

What we do at Virgin is, if we have a property,

we have a property, for instance, in South Africa

called Ulusaba.

It's got some of the most beautiful game in the world,

cheaters, leopards, you name it.

But we also draw a circle

around each of our properties

to make sure that within those circles,

the community are properly looked after.

So, outside Ulusaba we built a clinic

called the Bhubezi Clinic.

We've helped set up schools and organizations

to really help the communities.

Sounds naive, but if we can try ultimately

to get the world to one world

where borders

do not become so vitally important.

Where people are allowed to travel

to any country in the world,

to live in any country in the world,

to work in any country in the world,

to marry anybody in this world,

that would be the utopian world that I would like to see

in 50 years time, when the grandkids grow up.

People I met at the bar on Virgin Atlantic said,

"It's all very well, you're giving us a great experience

going to Miami or New York or Dallas or whatever

on a Virgin plane, but then you dump us on the street,

and we then don't have that seamless experience."

So we've been

experimenting on people in Chicago with our first hotel,

and we've opened up in Las Vegas and Edinburgh,

and we've got a big flagship hotel opening in New York.

New York will not be that dissimilar

to being on a Virgin cruise, I think.

- [Jesse] Let me ask you another question about technology.

Obviously technology can be our friend,

it's a huge asset aboard this ship,

but some of the most emergent technologies seem to

take us within ourselves and way from other people,

things like VR and the metaverse.

How can those things be beneficial

to humanity and to travelers?

- I think in a limited way, technology can be helpful,

but in the end, people are yearning

for real people, real interaction, real feedback.

The more people can be themselves,

the better the world would be.

Technology's definitely helped

but I think it can go too far.

- And at the end of the day

the success of all of your brands is built on people.

Right? - Completely

Virgin Galactic, our motto is to be a space line for Earth,

to give people extraordinary experiences

as I was lucky enough to have when I went up.

I've fantasized the idea of a hotel just off the moon

with pods where you can just see back at the Earth,

and little two man seater spaceships

where you could just travel around the moon

and come back to the hotel at night times.

I was hoping it would be in my lifetime,

I think I'm gonna have to get back on that fitness machine

to make sure it's in my lifetime.

But the market for people who want to go into space

is almost infinite.

If we can continue to bring

the environmental cost of doing it down and down and down,

which I think we can,

continue to bring the price down,

which in time with more spaceships and more motherships,

we will be able to do.

I do think 20 years from now

a spaceship will have reached Mars.

We may have a Virgin hotel floating off the moon,

We'll see where it goes.

Everything we do is to try to make

the Earth that we live on better.

I mean, like with Virgin Orbit

we put up satellites last week into orbit.

They're traveling 17,500 miles an hour around the Earth

at the moment as we speak.

We got 30 of them.

They are monitoring rainforest, illegal fishing,

all sorts of different things that are going on

back here on Earth.

We set up the Carbon War Room,

which is trying to work with businesses in trying to

help them move towards a carbon free existence.

The Global Drug Commission,

which is trying to get governments

to treat drugs as a health problem, not a criminal problem.

All of us who are in a position

just to make a little difference in pushing it that way,

have just got to do that.

And I'm hopeful that my grandkids eyes will be opened

and that they will help open other people's eyes as well.

- Let's get in the pool.

[crowd cheering]

- Come on. - All right.

[crowd cheering]