Richard Branson is at it again, expanding his Virgin empire. This time, he’s going after the $30-billion market for booking private air travel, with Virgin Charter, a new online service that you can bid on. Speed and simplicity, is key…and maybe, just maybe it’ll put this kind of luxury travel within reach of more of us. Keep reading!

According to this story from Reuters (via MSNBC), “most charter flights are currently booked by phone through a broker in a process that can take the assistants of millionaires, celebrities and business travelers as long as a week to complete.”

Life in the fast lane can be tough.

But Virgin Charter (and here’s its website) makes it as simple as booking a regular flight online; it eliminates the “middleman” (the traditional broker), and you can actually bid for the flight you want.

Dropping the broker will cut costs; so will allowing charter operators a way to sell seats on flights that might otherwise return from a flight “empty”. Look for such seats to be marketed under a “hot deals” section of the website.

Get the latest information on First Class luxury from Virgin America