Sir Richard Branson's sense of timing is nothing if not impeccable. Four days after British Airways announced its biggest-ever annual loss, Virgin Atlantic triumphantly published its own financial numbers for 2008: a pre-tax profit double the previous year's and an increase in turnover of not far short of 10%.
With industry profits dropping faster than an oxygen mask during an emergency landing, this appears to be a victory for Virgin - one that is all the sweeter for the airline's founder, given the financial headaches about Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA.
These include a vast pension deficit, the likelihood of further substantial job cuts, US regulators' unwillingness to smile on a proposed alliance with American Airlines, and the impasse that Walsh appears to have reached in merger talks with the Spanish airline group Iberia. While none of these has had a direct impact on the BA brand, neither have they aided its efforts to market its way out of recession.
The BA share price, which has slid sharply since the beginning of the year, tells its own story. The City is lukewarm about its immediate prospects, to say the least.
Last week's announcement by Branson demonstrated that, while the passing of the years may have masked some of the traditional vitriol between BA and Virgin Atlantic, the rivalry between the two enemies remains as fierce as ever.
Now that this competition is occurring against the backdrop of a sharp decline in demand from premium passengers, expect both brands' marketing tactics to become grubbier.
If you believe Steve Ridgway, the chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, no major airline in the world will make a profit this year. Recent figures from the International Air Transport Association illustrate the gravity of the situation, as revenues from passengers travelling in first and business class fell 21% year on year in February and March.
BA relies on the corporate travellers who turn left when they board their Heathrow to JFK flights, but this entire market dwindled overnight when the financial crisis hit.
It is Virgin that appears to have fine-tuned its marketing messages more adeptly. It has ploughed hundreds of thousands of pounds into a campaign promoting its Premium Economy cabin, which has helped to alleviate the declining load in its Upper Class seats. BA, meanwhile, is toying with abandoning its First Class service on long-haul planes altogether.
It is hardly surprising that, as Marketing revealed last month, BA's strategy for dealing with the crisis involves the establishment of a ‘rapid response unit'. It is an intriguing development, but one senses that without a global marketing director to steer BA through the turbulence, its impact will be limited. Much of its advertising during the past year has been fire-fighting, such as its response to the T5 fiasco.
By contrast, whether you think Virgin Atlantic's 25th anniversary campaign (‘Still red hot') was marred or improved by its rather predictable streak of chauvinism, there was no mistaking the sense of self-confidence coursing through it.
We do, of course, have to take Branson's claims about how much market share Virgin Atlantic is stealing from its competitors with a pinch of salt. In addition, as a private company, the figures it reports are subject to less scrutiny than those of BA.
It's clear, though, that it will be impossible for both of these bitter rivals to claim victory. However, right now, BA is the brand that is having to run faster simply to stand still.
Mark Kleinman is City editor of The Sunday Telegraph
30 seconds on Willie Walsh
Willie Walsh, a 47-year-old Irishman, joined BA in May 2005 as chief executive designate, and took the helm in October the same year.
Walsh made his name at Aer Lingus, where he started as a cadet pilot in 1979. Named chief executive in October 2001, he reinvented the airline as a no-frills operator in the difficult months following the 11 September terrorist attacks. In driving the transformation, he cut costs by 30%, sold assets such as the headquarters' art collection, and axed 30% of staff, saying: ‘We make no apology for focusing on profit.'
In an Aer Lingus staff publication, he was quoted as saying that ‘a reasonable man gets nowhere in negotiations' - a statement indicative of his no-nonsense approach to dealing with trade unions.
Walsh and BA finance director Keith Williams will forego their pay for July, a gesture that will reportedly cost the former £61,250.
Walsh is president of the Heathrow branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society.