The Virgin Atlantic founder said his airline “must compete with anyone on price” but would not risk damaging the quality of its service in order to do so.

Branson was speaking at a press conference in Seattle yesterday as Virgin Atlantic launched its new Heathrow service to the US city.

The business magnate said the passenger growth of a number of low-cost airlines, most notably Norwegian, into the transatlantic space could emphasis Virgin Atlantic’s need to “make people realise” what it offered.

“We may [explain our] prices on certain things or something in the future to make sure people realise that we are cheaper than some of these other lower cost carriers, but we will make sure the quality of our product is a lot better than them always,” Branson said.

Echoing Branson, executive vice president, operations at Virgin Atlantic Phil Maher told TTG the airline had a “very strong brand” and was “not worried” by the crowded marketplace.

He admitted the carrier would have to examine how its low-cost transatlantic competitors were doing in terms of price but added that Virgin Atlantic had the “winning formula” to stay ahead.

“In terms of pricing we do have to look at how the low-cost competitors are entering that market and what they are doing in terms of price proposition, and ultimately we have to remain competitive for our customers. We can achieve that and again we have a hugely changed fleet over the last couple of years - a very economical fleet and great products onboard, so I think we have a winning formula,” he said.

“Competition always brings its own challenges. I’m not saying we’re worried by it because the reality is we have a very strong brand, we have got great service and great product so we’re not afraid of it but we’re conscious that the market is changing and there is a new slew of low-cost carriers coming into the market.

“I think we have a very strong product portfolio for our customers and they keep coming back and telling us that time and time again,” Maher added.