In addition to the ATRs, Skywest has a fleet of 20 aircraft, predominantly Fokker F50s and F100s and one Airbus A320. It operates some scheduled services mostly on Western Australian regional routes, and has a large charter business. Borghetti says the Skywest operations will be retained and will be rebranded as Virgin Australia. It will keep its own air operator’s certificate and management team.

The SIA investment in Virgin Australia is valued at $A105 million. Virgin and SIA already code-share on routes from Australia to Asia. SIA has a 33% ownership stake in Tiger Holdings, but Borghetti stresses that the Tiger and SIA deals are independent.

The Tiger deal is expected to be finalized–assuming it is approved by regulators–in the March-April timeframe, and the Skywest deal likely will be completed at about the same time.