Virgin Australia is to take a minority stake in Australian and Asian regional airline Skywest.
It is to pay A$8 million for a 10% shareholding in Skywest, which operates four ATR 72 aircraft as part of a joint Australian Regional Airline Network Agreement. The fleet will grow to 12 by the end of the 2013 financial year.
Skywest executive chairman Jeff Chatfield said: “This investment highlights the confidence that Virgin Australia has in the Skywest business and our ability to tap into future growth opportunities in the Australian regional market.
“Our current integrated offering with Virgin Australia is extremely valuable to major mining company customers who need to move large numbers of employees to and from their place of employment around Australia.”