Virgin’s Branson lands in Detroit to celebrate new flight

Tanya Moutzalias/MLive Detroit via AP

Sir Richard Branson, founder and president of Virgin Atlantic Airways, center, arrives with the flight crew of Virgin Atlantic’s newest aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 named “Dream Jeannie,” to celebrate a new Virgin Atlantic flight between London and Detroit, Thursday, June 11, 2015, at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Mich.

Associated Press

Thursday, June 11, 2015 | 11:27 p.m.

ROMULUS, Mich. — British billionaire Sir Richard Branson has landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport to celebrate a new Virgin Atlantic flight between London and the Motor City.

After the jet landed Thursday at the airport, the Virgin Atlantic president, wearing a T-shirt reading "Detroit Hustles Harder," bounded down the stairs and onto the tarmac, where he posed for photos and greeted airport officials and others.

The route into the airport in Romulus, a Detroit suburb, is the newest addition to Virgin Atlantic's service as part of its partnership with Delta Air Lines.

Branson says it's the right time to offer service to the area, saying Detroit "is beginning to boom again."

Branson will host an event Friday for Detroit entrepreneurs, who will be able to pitch him ideas.