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2020–present: COVID-19 difficulties
In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic which saw a dramatic decline in international air travel of around 60% globally, Branson and Virgin attracted criticism by asking staff to take eight weeks' unpaid leave. In response to the global pandemic, Branson put his luxury Necker Island up as collateral for a commercial loan to save Virgin Atlantic from going bust. Branson said: "Over the five decades I have been in business, this is the most challenging time we have ever faced... From a business perspective, the damage to many is unprecedented and the length of the disruption remains worryingly unknown." On 5 May 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline would lay off 3000 staff, reduce the fleet size to 35 by the summer of 2022, retire the Boeing 747-400s and would not resume operations from Gatwick following the pandemic.

On 11 July 2021, Richard Branson took a flight with Beth Moses, Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett and reached edge of space (86 kilometers or 53 miles) on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft called VSS Unity. This made him the first billionaire founder of a space company to travel to the edge of space.

In February 2022, Branson's Virgin Hyperloop company sacked more than a hundred employees amounting to roughly half its total.