Expansion only if Heathrow gets 3rd runway: Branson

[DUBAI] Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson dangled the carrot of further investment in the British airline's domestic carrier Little Red as he stepped up the campaign for a third runway at London's Heathrow airport.

Warning that Britain is in danger of "slipping into the dark ages" without additional capacity at Heathrow, he said Virgin would look to expand Little Red into Europe only after a third runway is built.

Little Red was launched by Virgin last year, offering routes from Heathrow to Manchester and the Scottish cities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, after rival British Airways bought short-haul operator British Midland.