News: Etihad eyes Virgin Australia stake

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Middle East-based airline Etihad Airways is reportedly eyeing a stake in its partner Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (ASX:VAH) as it looks to expand into Asia.

Etihad’s CEO James Hogan has told The Australian Financial Review the airline would consider strengthening its long-term commercial partnership with Virgin.

The AFR suggests one option could see Virgin separate its domestic and international businesses to enable overseas investment in its domestic division without foreign ownership restrictions.

Etihad and Virgin inked a five-year alliance last year which will see both airlines benefit from cooperating on joint pricing and service scheduling across their networks.



In the 2011 financial year Virgin booked a net loss of $67.8 million.