Etihad Airways confirmed on Sunday September 2nd to raise its participation into Virgin Australia Holdings to 10%.
ABU DHABI – Etihad Airways confirmed its equity stake in Virgin Australia Holdings has now reached 10 %. This represents 221 million shares which have been bought on the open market over recent months. Six weeks ago Etihad Airways received Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval to increase its holding from 5% to 10%.
Etihad Airways President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, said: “We are very pleased to have reached this threshold. We support the management strategy of Virgin Australia and will continue to work closely with them on ways to improve our business. Mr Hogan again reiterated that Etihad Airways wasn’t interested in becoming a majority shareholder or taking control of Virgin Australia.
“Our small equity stake reflects the strong working relationship of both airlines and again demonstrates our enduring commitment to the Australian market,” he said.
Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia have developed a highly successful, multi-tiered partnership that includes code-sharing on flights, joint marketing initiatives and reciprocal earn-and-burn on their respective frequent flier programs.
Mr Hogan said he was confident the equity stake would lead to more revenue generating opportunities. “This further cements our commercial partnership as we continue to explore areas of even closer co-operation such as operational synergies, shared IT infrastructure and other forms of cost sharing efficiency.”
In parallel, Etihad also announced plans to increase flights between Brisbane and Abu Dhabi from three times a week to a daily service from February 1, 2013. This will bring to 28 the total number of flights Etihad Airways operates between Australia and Abu Dhabi, together with partner airline Virgin Australia. The additional four services will continue to operate via Singapore in both directions and provide a new daily link between the city pairs.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
