Delta buys 49pc stake in Virgin for $360m

DELTA Air Lines is buying Singapore Airlines’ 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic for $360m and has agreed to a transatlantic joint venture with the carrier, expanding its access to Heathrow airport.

By The Newsroom

Published 12th Dec 2012, 08:59 BST

Under the joint venture, Delta and Virgin would share costs and revenues on routes between Britain and North America.

The pair plan to cooperate on services between New York and London, with a total of nine daily round-trip flights from Heathrow to JFK in New York and Newark in New Jersey.

Delta, the second-largest US airline after United Continental, has long hoped to break into Heathrow. In recent years, it has invested heavily to build a major hub in New York.

The tie-up with Delta will be a shot in the arm for Virgin Atlantic, second after British Airways in size, which has been battered by rising fuel prices and the eurozone crisis. Its boss Sir Richard Branson has insisted Virgin will not be swallowed up by Delta.