Virgin Australia, Australia's second-ranked airline, said alliance partner Singapore Airlines would buy a 10 percent stake in it for AUD$105 million (USD$108 million) to help it compete with larger rival Qantas.
Under the agreement, a placement of 245.6 million shares will be made to Singapore Airlines at an issue price of AUD$0.4288 per share.
In a broad move to consolidate its domestic position, Virgin separately agreed to acquire 60 percent of budget airline Tiger Australia for AUD$35 million.
The two will jointly invest a further AUD$62.5 million to increase Tiger's fleet size.
Virgin also said it would acquire 100 percent of regional airline Skywest, which services fly-in fly-out mining camps, for AUD$0.45 per share.
"The transactions announced today are in line with Virgin Australia's strategy to become the airline of choice in all markets, in order to diversify our earnings and drive growth opportunities for the business," said Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti.
Er Reema Chordiya [ BE, MBA ] Member of the Advisory Board at Minu-Sepehr AeroSpace University,USA CEO
Authorities have released the names of two men who died in the crash of a small plane north of the Byron Airport.
David Behne, 57, and Larry Strobel, 56, both of Brentwood, died when the experimental Glasair III they were riding in crashed in a field 4 miles northeast of the airport about 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Authorities did not say who was piloting the single-engine, home-built plane, which is owned by Behne. Both Behne and Strobel were licensed pilots.
Byron plane crash victims identified,
Plane Crash at Melbourne Airport,
Plane Crash Portland Oregon,
Nebraska Small Plane Crash Nygren,
Plane Crash Nebraska,
Ogle County Crash,
Ogle County Accident Reports,
Ogle County Accidents,
YouTube Short Movies
Er Reema Chordiya [ BE, MBA ] Member of the Advisory Board at Minu-Sepehr AeroSpace University,USA CEO
Plane crash kills Southlake brothers, their father and uncle
SOUTHLAKE — Investigators are looking for the cause of Saturday's small plane crash in Van Zandt County that claimed the lives of all four aboard, including a Southlake dentist and two teenage sons.
The final tweets from Paul and Mason Ledet expressed excitement for the weekend ahead: "Ole Miss bound" and "Mississippi Trippin'."
Their joy would soon turn to agony for family and friends.
"It's just a horrible, horrible loss," said Michael Browning, Paul Ledet’s friend.
Paul and Mason were aboard a small plane with their father, Dr. Leonard Ledet, and uncle Gregory Ledet on Saturday morning. They lifted off at 9:09 a.m. from Roanoke's Northwest Regional Airport destined for Clarksdale, Mississippi, with a planned fuel stop in Athens, Texas.
It's believed weather diverted the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza to Terrell, Texas, where it crashed in a pasture seven miles from a runway after disappearing from radar screens after 30 minutes in the air.
The wreckage wasn't located until late Saturday night in the middle of a pasture in Van Zandt County.
The Northwest Regional Airport said Dr. Ledet had been flying his Beechcraft Bonanza out of the airport for the past year, often traveling with his brother.
A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted the wreckage just before 9 p.m. Saturday, about 7 miles short of a runway.
At the crash site Sunday morning, long time resident Ladonna Anderson said an abundance of prayers are going out to the Ledet family.
"It's a very tragic event that touches all of us in this community," she said.
Paul Ledet, 17, was a junior at Carroll Senior High School; 13-year-old Mason was an 8th grader at Carroll Middle School.
"Our hearts are heavy in Carroll ISD at the news of such great loss within our Dragon family," the district said in a written statement. "Our counselors and staff stand ready to serve and assist students upon their return to class Tuesday."
Christopher Browning worked with Paul Ledet at Urban Air Trampoline Park in Southlake. He got a phone call at 2 a.m. Sunday alerting him to the tragic news.
"He just brought so much joy, and he was really, really good," Browning said. "He was one of those people we wanted interacting with the customers because he really brought to the facility just so much joy, and I just can't explain."
Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group and companies such as Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Active. He is the author of "Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur."
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies. His first business venture was a magazine called Student at the age of 16. Wikipedia
Born: July 18, 1950 (age 62), Blackheath, London
Net worth: 4.2 billion USD (2012)
Education: Stowe School
Spouse: Joan Templeman (m. 1989), Kristen Tomassi (m. 1972–1979)
Children: Sam Branson, Clare Sarah Branson, Holly Branson
Movies and TV shows: The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best, More
He's ballooned across the Atlantic, floated down the Thames with the Sex Pistols, and been knighted by the Queen. His megabrand, Virgin, is home to more than 250 companies, from gyms, gambling houses and bridal boutiques to fleets of planes, trains and limousines. The man even owns his own island.
And now Richard Branson is moving onward and upward into space (tourism): Virgin Galactic's Philippe Starck-designed, The first Burt Rutan-engineered spacecraft, The Enterprise, completed its first captive carry in early 2010 and is slated to start carrying passengers into the thermosphere in 2012, at $200,000 a ticket.
Branson also has a philanthropic streak. He's pledged the next 10 years of profits from his transportation empire (an amount expected to reach $3 billion) to the development of renewable alternatives to carbon fuels. And then there's his Virgin Earth Challenge, which offers a $25 million prize to the first person to come up with an economically viable solution to the greenhouse gas problem.
