Red Hot Kate Moss Celebrates Virgin Atlantic's 25th Birthday With Branson

Supermodel Kate Moss kicked off Virgin Atlantic's 25th birthday celebrations by dressing as one of the airline's flying pin-up girls.Flashing her long legs in a red, strapless playsuit and Yves Saint Laurent Tribute platform heels, Kate jumped into the arms of a willing Sir Richard Branson as they posed on the wing of a Virgin jumbo.

The 35-year-old was aping the dress sense of the Virgin 'Flying Girls', who are painted on the side of the fleet in the style of Alberto Vargas's pin-ups in the 1940s.Kate followed in the unlikely footsteps of Pamela Anderson, who also dressed in a similar red playsuit for Virgin's 21st birthday.After their photoshoot this morning, Branson and Moss boarded the plane, entitled Birthday Girl, to recreate the airline's inaugural flight from Heathrow to New York City.

On board today's special VIP 'birthday flight' were international cricketer Kevin Pietersen, Sir Ian Botham and entertainer Christopher Biggins, who was a passenger on the very first Virgin Atlantic flight 25 years ago on June 22nd 1984.Speaking before take-off, Sir Richard predicted that the recession would kill off first-class travel.

About an hour before departure, he posed in a captain's uniform with Kate before being joined for the wing walk by his daughter Holly and his son Sam.Sir Richard said the last 12 months in aviation had been 'the most volatile in our 25-year history'.He believed Virgin Atlantic would survive the downturn but suspected that first-class travel across all airlines would 'disappear for good'.