By Mary Hladky
Brightline’s parent company is scrapping a “strategic partnership” with British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Enterprises, and its Miami-to-West Palm Beach rail service once again will be known as Brightline.
The company announced the change in a revenue and ridership report filed on Aug. 7, saying it notified Virgin on July 29 that it was terminating a trademark license agreement. The company, which has been operating as Virgin Trains USA, will change its name to Brightline Trains LLC.
“Virgin has no remaining affiliation with us, our parent or its affiliates (whether through equity ownership or otherwise),” the company said.
Virgin is disputing the termination, the report said. Brightline and Virgin provided no additional information on the disagreement.
The end of the branding deal will not affect the upscale rail company’s plans for construction of new stations in Boca Raton, Aventura and PortMiami, according to the report.
Mayor Scott Singer also said during an Aug. 13 address to the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce that the Boca Raton station will not be affected.
He said Brightline is “proceeding as a company” and that the city still thinks the Boca Raton station “is going to be a significant game changer … for decades to come. The COVID times will end and people will be commuting again.”
Construction of the Aventura station has begun and the Boca Raton station’s design and engineering is “well advanced,” the report said.
Brightline is still negotiating with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez about creating a commuter rail system between Miami and Aventura that would be financed by the county. It also is moving quickly to build tracks between West Palm Beach and Orlando.
Before the name change was announced, the company had pushed back the expected Boca Raton station completion date until early 2022, in part because of the coronavirus pandemic, which forced a suspension of passenger service on March 25. The company has not announced when service will resume.
The partnership was announced with much fanfare in 2018. Virgin said at the time it would take a small equity stake in Brightline, but Branson told Forbes in January that while he wanted to, he had not yet done so.
The partnership was intended to boost both Virgin Enterprises and Brightline. The idea was that people would fly to Miami on Virgin Atlantic Airways, stay at a planned Miami Virgin hotel, take a cruise on Virgin’s cruise line from PortMiami and then ride to Orlando theme parks on Virgin Trains.
Ben Porritt, Brightline’s senior vice president for corporate affairs, told The Coastal Star one year ago the partnership was a “tremendous” cross-marketing opportunity.
Although Brightline’s report did not state why the company was terminating the deal, the decline in Virgin’s fortunes due to the pandemic is a likely reason since it decreases the value of the partnership to Brightline.
On Aug. 4, Virgin Atlantic Airways filed in the U.S. for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection, meant for businesses with assets in more than one country. Virgin’s Australia airline filed for bankruptcy in April. In May, Virgin Voyages pushed back its maiden voyage until at least October. Airlines and cruise lines are among the industries hit hardest by the pandemic.
In a letter to employees this spring, Branson wrote, “Over the five decades I have been in business, this is the most challenging time we have ever faced,” Forbes reported in April.
In its report, Brightline reiterated its earlier statements that the suspension of rail service “is not expected to have a material net financial impact on our business and we have access to ample operating liquidity to withstand a protracted slowdown in the travel market.”
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