Let’s keep the Virgin theme rolling this week, shall we? Last week, Chris Rossi, Virgin Atlantic’s Senior Vice President, North America was in town here in LA for Brit Week. While he was here, we were able to get together for half an hour to talk shop. I was hoping this could become an Across the Aisle piece, but my inability to master recording on my new Android phone prevented me from getting the full transcript. So, I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for highlights.

We covered a lot of topics, so let’s dive right in to them.

Will Virgin Atlantic remain independent?
No use in starting off with fluff questions, right? With all the speculation about the future of Virgin Atlantic as an independent entity, I thought it best to just start there. Of course, there wasn’t much Chris could tell me. He said that it’s really business as usual. I asked if it was a distraction and he said that it was only a distraction in all the external coverage being focused on the airline. Internally, it’s no different.

He did drift into alliances a bit by saying “we’re one of those last few independent [airlines], and we happen to be in a very good position in terms of assets at Heathrow.” But that’s as much as I could get. Not a surprise, of course. We won’t know of a deal until it’s actually happening, if it happens at all.

Former Tail Slogan #1: No Way BA/AA
Virgin Atlantic spent a lot of time fighting the British Airways/American Airlines anti-trust immunity grant (that’s why that slogan was painted on the airplane), but the alliance has gone forward. I wanted to know if Virgin had seen any impact so far. The result? Nothing. “It’s too early stage to know. We haven’t seen any impact, negative or positive.”

His concern is about what will happen if AA and BA use their market power to pressure corporations and travel agencies into signing more restrictive deals. That’s a process that takes time, so Chris says Virgin Atlantic is still waiting to see where it goes. So far, nothing has changed.

Former Tail Slogan #2: 4 engines for long haul
We then spoke about the introduction of A330 service. I could only chuckle at the introduction of this airplane, because Virgin Atlantic used to have “4 engines 4 long haul” painted on its birds. Clearly, economics got the better of them. Chris said the A330 provides a 15 percent cost advantage over the A340, so it’s a very attractive airplane.

There are two in the fleet right now, and the first five will be dedicated to leisure routes with only economy and premium economy seats. Today, they’re flying Orlando to Manchester and London/Gatwick. Airplanes 6 through 10 will have Upper Class and could go on more business-oriented routes, but those are a little way down the line.

I asked if the A330s would open up new routes for the airline, but for now, the answer is no. The plan is to put these on existing routes. They can return some of the A340s if they want, but no plans have been made. If business is good, these can be used for expansion. I imagine with a 15 percent cost advantage, that could open up some routes that don’t make sense with the existing fleet today.

Swapping Spit with Other Virgins
Since Chris runs the show in the US, I was curious if there had been much traffic flowing between Virgin Atlantic and Virgin America. He said there hadn’t been a ton, but he anticipates that will change. Much of the hold-up has been with Virgin America’s systems since they couldn’t communicate properly with other airlines. Now that’s changing and he expects the next step in cooperation to be in the fall.

I wondered why there would be much traffic. After all, Virgin America only adds a few cities (San Diego, Seattle, and Los Cabos) that Virgin Atlantic doesn’t serve itself with legitimate connections. (Nobody is going to connect through LA to go to Dallas.) Chris said the bigger opportunity is in the UK-based passenger who wants to make multiple stops in the US. So they’ll be able to sell a single itinerary to the person who wants to fly into Vegas, up to SF, and then back to the UK.

I still don’t see this as a huge market. It seems to me that if there’s going to be real traffic flow, Virgin America would need to start serving more cities from eastern locations where connections make more sense. But it does seem that they should be sharing more traffic than they are today.

The Ever-Changing Livery
One thing that always bugs me about Virgin Atlantic is that it seems to change its colors every other week. And it’s never a big change. The airline just adds some silver or purple, changes the font, etc. So why the heck does the management team bother?

Chris laughed, and he said that the most recent livery change was really an internally-focused one. They refreshed their brand principles and had a big effort internally to get people re-dedicated to the airline. So the external face of that effort was the change in colors. I still don’t get it. I’m all for touchy-feely things, but this just seems like a huge exercise without a ton of benefit. If there are Virgin Atlantic folks out there, chime in and let me know what you think.

Australian travelers know Virgin Blue as the number two competitor to Qantas, but within a couple of days, the name will be gone. Ok, so I’m just being dramatic. The airline is simply changing its name to Virgin Australia (or so it’s expected). That, of course, begs the question . . . why didn’t it get that name in the first place?

We don’t know for sure that Virgin Australia will be the name announced this Wednesday (Tuesday for us here in the US), but all signs point that way. Trademarks have been registered, the web domain has been secured, and there were even a couple of slip ups on the current website that showed the airline’s hand. This is all part of Virgin Blue’s new strategy under former Qantas exec John Borghetti to become a viable competitor against Qantas when it comes to the business traveler.

How did the airline get the name Virgin Blue in the first place? It all came as part of a contest the airline held to name the airline when it launched in 2000. In Australia, a “Bluey” is apparently slang for a red-headed person. With its red-bodied airplanes, the name seemed to fit, and it added a little fun. This may have sounded fun, but it seems out of place today among Virgin airlines.

Most Virgin airlines (except for the now-defunct Virgin Express) have geography in the title. Virgin Atlantic flies over the Atlantic (primarily). Virgin America? I think we know how that works. And Virgin Nigeria may be gone, but in its day, it was clear where it flew. So now Virgin Australia will join that family.

The bigger problem, however, is around the Virgin name itself. The name was originally licensed solely for flights within Australia. That meant that when Virgin Blue started expanding, it couldn’t take the Virgin name with it. That’s how we ended up with Pacific Blue in New Zealand and the South Pacific, Polynesian Blue in Samoa, and of course, V Australia for long-haul intercontinental flights. The brand confusion is just nuts.

My understanding is that this insanity was courtesy of Singapore Airlines. Singapore bought 49 percent of Virgin Atlantic back in 1999. Concerned about protecting its turf in its sphere of influence, it pushed for the restrictions on Virgin Blue’s use of the Virgin name outside of Australia. We’re in a different world today, however. There is plenty of low cost carrier competition around Southeast Asia and Singapore is pondering a sale of its Virgin Atlantic stake anyway. I assume that Virgin Australia had to pay up in order to be able to use the Virgin name in a greater geography, but it’s worth it to have a unified brand.

Now we’ll see all the Virgin Blue brands united under the name Virgin Australia. It’s now my understanding that only Virgin Blue will become Virgin Australia with Pacific Blue being folded in to V Australia. So, man, did I get this one wrong. With this new brand, the airline will be gunning for Qantas and a larger share of the business travel market. The name and paint job aren’t the only things changing. We’ve already seen the airline put widebodies on flights between Sydney and Perth with longer-haul configurations that appeal to business travelers. We’re also going to see new interiors and changes to the frequent flier program, undoubtedly in ways to make it more attractive to the frequent Qantas traveler.

Remember, Virgin Blue also has a fairly new partnership with Air New Zealand across the Tasman, so I would assume we’ll see further integration between the two so that the new Virgin Australia can provide better offerings to the business travelers on both sides of the Ditch.

If I’m Qantas, I’m certainly concerned about this. The Virgin effort is being spearheaded by someone who knows Qantas well from the inside. And while its Jetstar subsidiary did a good job of holding ground against low cost carriers, it does nothing against an airline targeting the business traveler. This should be fun to watch.

[Updated 5/2 @ 812a to reflect the fact that only Virgin Blue will be changing its name to Virgin Australia]

[Updated on 5/4 @ 918a - it appears that Pacific Blue and V Australia will become Virgin Australia, so the initial post was right.]