Virgin Atlantic Airways chairman looking at new Vegas resort

LAS VEGAS - Virgin Atlantic Airways Chairman Richard Branson, in Las Vegas to inaugurate his company's nonstop air service to and from London, is meeting with local business leaders to explore building a resort here.

Branson declined to identify the participants in the meetings.

''I have three or four appointments to look at some fun ideas while I'm here,'' Branson told the Las Vegas Sun after arriving on a Boeing 747 jet on his company's maiden flight to Las Vegas.

Branson, whose Virgin Group started as a mail-order record company in 1970, already owns five-star hotels in England, South Africa and Morocco. None of them have casinos, he said.

But Branson believes Virgin's corporate culture is a good match for Las Vegas and he's confident the twice-a-week flight schedule begun Thursday will soon expand to daily service.

Branson bases his confidence on favorable advanced bookings for the summer, the track record of another American resort city, Orlando, Fla., and an alliance the company announced Thursday with Las Vegas-based National Airlines.

Advanced bookings between Gatwick International Airport in London and Las Vegas already have surpassed company expectations for the summer months, Branson said.

National Airlines Chairman Mike Conway joined Branson in announcing a strategic alliance between the two carriers that will include a marketing agreement and the linking of the two airlines' respective frequent flier programs. Details of the plan, which would enable National passengers to redeem points earned for free flights on Virgin, have yet to be worked out. National's frequent-flier program is on a points system that awards participants based on the amount they pay for a flight; Virgin's program awards members for miles flown.

Conway said the alliance does not include a full-blown code-sharing agreement, which would enable both airlines to book flights on each other's planes. Such an agreement would have to be approved by aviation authorities in Great Britain and the United States.

But Conway is encouraged that the alliance will result in more Virgin passengers using National to fly within the United States, especially since the Las Vegas airline flies between most of Virgin's 10 U.S. gateways, which now includes McCarran International.

The arrival of the 422-passenger airliner at McCarran completed eight years of courting by Las Vegas officials.

When Thursday's inaugural flight arrived, Branson got on the intercom and declared Las Vegas ''Virgin territory,'' then popped open the jumbo jet's hatch and waved British and Nevada flags above the fuselage.

Branson emerged from the plane wearing sunglasses, glued-on sideburns and a bright red rhinestone-studded jumpsuit reminiscent of costumes worn by Elvis Presley. Two showgirls and a flurry of Las Vegas government leaders swarmed to greet the flamboyant executive, who has achieved as much fame as a record-setting balloonist as he has as a businessman.