Virgin Australia has further deepened its relationship with Skywest Airlines by making an $8 million investment in the regional carrier.
The arrangement, designed to grow the airlines’ regional partnership, means Virgin Australia will effectively own approximately 10% of Skywest.
Virgin chief financial officer Sankar Narayan said the move demonstrates the airline’s commitment to the Australian regional market.
“We have grown our regional operations significantly since launching our regional network with Skywest in October 2011, with the commencement of new services to Emerald, Gladstone and Port Macquarie,” he said.
“These services have been highly popular with the flying public and are already among our best performing regional routes.”
Skywest’s fleet of four new ATR aircraft will rise to 12 by the end of the 2013 financial year.
“There is plenty of opportunity to further expand our regional footprint,” Narayan added.
Virgin Australia recently received draft final approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to operate an integrated service with Skywest to cater to increased demand from the resource sector.
“The investment announced today will further cement this relationship,” Narayan said.
