Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (Virgin Australia Airlines) (Brisbane) is making three bold moves. The company issued the following statement:

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited today announced three transactions designed to accelerate the growth of the business, diversify its earnings and increase competition in Australia.

The transactions include:

• making a placement of shares to Singapore Airlines (Singapore), which will see Singapore Airlines owning a 10% interest in Virgin Australia Holdings;
• entering a Share Purchase Agreement to acquire 60% of the existing shares in Tiger Airways Australia (Melbourne) from Tiger Airways; and
• entering an in-principle agreement with Skywest Airlines (Perth) to acquire 100% of its business.

Virgin Australia Chief Executive Officer John Borghetti said: “The transactions announced today are in line with Virgin Australia’s strategy to become the airline of choice in all markets, in order to diversify our earnings and drive growth opportunities for the business.

“The acquisition of Tiger Australia and Skywest provides Virgin Australia with a strong presence in the budget, Fly-in Fly-Out (FIFO) and regional markets, enabling us to fast-track our expansion in these areas and become a stronger competitor”, Mr Borghetti said.

“These transactions will bring important benefits to Australia, driving growth in jobs, tourism and competition”, Mr Borghetti said.

If approved, following the completion of the transactions, the Virgin Australia Group will expand to 139 aircraft and over 9,000 employees .

Virgin Australia will keep the market updated regarding progress on these transactions.

Meanwhile partner Singapore Airlines (Singapore) has ordered 20 Airbus A350-900s and five A380s and will assign its 20 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to subsidiary Scoot (Singapore).

Top Copyright Photo: Lloyd Fox. If approved, Skywest Airlines (Perth) will become a 100% subsidiary of Virgin Australia. The regional carrier is already operating ATR 72-500s for Virgin Australia in their livery. The Skywest brand used for other Western Australia routes is now likely to disappear.

Virgin Australia: 

Skywest Airlines: 

Tiger Airways (Australia): 

Bottom Copyright Photo: Micheil Keegan. Since Singapore Airlines and its Tiger Airways (Australia) subsidiary are now partners with Virgin Australia, it is unclear if Tiger Airways (Australia), a competitor of Virgin Australia, will continue to use the the Tiger Airways brand in Australia or operate now under the Virgin Australia name. Airbus A320-232 VH-VNO (msn 4053) climbs away from Sydney.