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| Virgin Australia sells 10% stake to Singapore Airlines | Virgin Australia sells 10% stake to Singapore Airlines |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Virgin Australia has sold a 10% stake to Singapore Airlines, in an attempt to help it compete with Qantas Airways in the Australian market. | |
| Singapore Airlines, the world's second largest carrier, will spend A$105m ($108m; £68m) on the deal, Virgin said in a statement. | Singapore Airlines, the world's second largest carrier, will spend A$105m ($108m; £68m) on the deal, Virgin said in a statement. |
| Abu Dhabi's flag carrier, Etihad, already has a minority stake in Virgin. | Abu Dhabi's flag carrier, Etihad, already has a minority stake in Virgin. |
| Global and domestic airlines have increased cooperation as rising fuel prices and competition hurt profits. | |
| Qantas challenge | |
| The tie-up with Singapore Air comes after Qantas' potential alliance with Dubai's Emirates which was announced last month. | |
| Analysts say Singapore Air is backing Virgin to counter the threat posed by Qantas in Asia's lucrative aviation market. | |
| "Qantas' ambition to become a premium player in the Asia Pacific aviation market is meeting some stiff resistance, most notably from other key players in the region like Singapore Airlines," said City Index analyst Peter Esho. | |
| "We see today's move by Singapore Airlines as a strategic shift down south to back Qantas' main domestic competitor," he added. | |
| In a flurry of domestic moves, Virgin also announced it had agreed to acquire 60% of Singapore's struggling Australian budget carrier, Tiger Airways, for A$25m. | |
| Virgin and Tiger will jointly spend another A$52.5m to grow Tiger's fleet size. | |
| Virgin also said it would takeover regional airline Skywest, which operates in Australia and South East Asia, for A$99m. | |
| "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," said Virgin Australia Chief Executive Officer John Borghetti. |