Virgin share transfer receives court approval

The sale of Virgin Australia is expected to be completed next week after the Federal Court gave the green light for the transfer of the airline’s shares to Bain Capital. A short order posted November 10 by Federal Court judge John Middleton granted an application by administrators Deloitte to complete the transfer, despite objections by two shareholders. Bain’s takeover of Virgin will see a change in chief executive from incumbent Paul Scurrah to former Jetstar boss Jayne Hrdlicka as the airline continues to restructure and reduce costs. It has been adding routes and frequencies as domestic border restrictions ease and predicted recently that it would be flying 45 Boeing 737s by December with the aim of eventually boosting its fleet to 75. Recent additions include expanded options to destinations such Ballina-Byron, Hamilton Island and Adelaide and increased frequencies between Brisbane and Adelaide. See Virgin’s network here. The airline is also offering passengers increased flexibility with the ability to change bookings up until January 31, 2021, alongside a range of health and wellbeing reassurances for customers who may be uncertain about traveling during this time. Virgin ditched its regional aircraft as part of a fleet rationalization but has subsequently applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to work with Brisbane’s Alliance Airlines to serve regional destinations. Hopes are also fading that Bain will retain its Western-Australia-based Virgin Australia regional Airlines (VARA) as a fully-functioning unit for fly-in, fly-out and scheduled passenger operations. READ: Virgin Australia Regional Airlines operations under a cloud. The Alliance authorization would enable airlines to work more closely and give passengers more flexibility when booking regional travel on both carriers. It would allow the carriers to utilise a combined fleet as well as coordinate and determine pricing, capacity and scheduling on 40 regional routes around Australia. Alliance recently received the first of 14 Embraer E190s it has ordered as it defies the COVID-19 trend and expands its fleet, moving beyond the Fokker workhorses that have underpinned its success. But Virgin faces increased competition on the lucrative “golden triangle” as Regional Express uses former Virgin planes to start Boeing 737 services.