European Union competition regulators today cleared the acquisition of UK airline Flybe by Connect Airways, a consortium created by Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and investment adviser Cyrus.
But the final approval of the deal is conditional on the release by Connect Airways of slots for the routes connecting Birmingham to Amsterdam and Paris, the EU executive said.
The deal was first announced in January.
Brussels was concerned that after the merger those routes could have fallen under a near monopoly in favour of the Franco-Dutch giant Air France-KLM, which has acquired Virgin Atlantic together with Delta and the Virgin Group of Richard Branson.
To allay the EU Commission's concerns, Connect Airways committed to the release of five daily slot pairs at Amsterdam Schiphol airport and three daily slot pairs at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
"The commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission," the EU executive said.
