Is The World Coming Closer? Delta Buys Stake in Virgin Atlantic

The first inklink I got about this deal between Delta and Virgin Atlantic is from an article by Carla Caldwell in the Atlanta Business Chronicle of course In his inimitable style Richard Branson announced

Exciting day for @virginatlantic & @delta - signals a new era of expansion & effective competition virg.in/dl
— richardbranson (@richardbranson) December 11, 2012

I love following International travel and this is exciting to me. I have flown on Virgin Atlantic to London Heathrow and decided never to use a flight through Heathrow to Asia again. It was not Virgin's fault but more of the airport itself. It may have improved a lot since then with the opening of the new terminal.
The world of travel gives you more choice now. You can get to Asia faster through the Middle Esst with direct flights from DC to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain on United, Etihad, Qatar or Emirates. It is usually a 14 hoir flight to the Middle East and then a 3 to 4 hour hop to most places in Asia.
Coming back to Delta and the Virgin deal, Richard Branson thinks it will give Virgin a advantage over his competitor British Airways. For Delta which already flies a lot of International Destinations after the KLM/Air France/Alitalia Joint Venture. Now thay have many spots in Heathrow so I expect they will fly to more destinations. In any case a slot in Heathrow could be a very good investment.