This development comes following news that Virgin Australia, the Australian arm of Virgin Group, has collapsed into administration as Covid-19 travel restrictions have led to worldwide fleet groundings.

Necker Island, a 30-hectare island in the British Virgin Islands just north of Virgin Gorda, is privately owned by Branson and is offered up as a luxury tourism destination – travellers can exclusively hire the island, or book individual rooms for a visit.

In an open letter to his employees, which he shared on Twitter, Branson explained that he was asking the UK Government for a commercial loan, not for a handout, and that Necker Island could be offered as security for required loans. "As with other Virgin assets, our team will raise as much money against the island as possible to save as many jobs as possible around the group," he said.

The letter read:

"We will do everything we can to keep the airline going - but we will need government support to achieve that in the face of the severe uncertainty surrounding travel today and not knowing how long the planes will be grounded for.

"This would be in the form of a commercial loan – it wouldn't be free money and the airline would pay it back (as EasyJet will do for the £600-million loan the government recently gave them)."

Responding to criticism over his tax situation (Branson has paid no UK income tax since moving to the tax-free British Virgin Islands 14 years ago), Branson said: “I've seen lots of comments about my net worth – but that is calculated on the value of Virgin businesses around the world before this crisis, not sitting as cash in a bank account ready to withdraw. Over the years significant profits have never been taken out of the Virgin Group, instead they have been reinvested in building businesses that create value and opportunities."