| Type | Public (ASX: VAH) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Airline |
| Founded | Brisbane, Australia, 2000 |
| Headquarters | Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia |
| Key people | Sir Richard Branson (President) John Borghetti (CEO) |
| Products | Virgin Australia Virgin Samoa |
| Revenue | A$2.976 billion (Y.E. 30 June 2010) |
| Employees | 4,060 (2007) |
| Website | www.virginaustralia.com |
Virgin Australia Holdings Limited is the holding company that owns and operates Virgin Australia and Virgin Australia International Airlines. It previously operated Pacific Blue Airlines and joint-venture airline Polynesian Blue which were absorbed into Virgin Australia in December 2011. Its main shareholder is the Virgin Group. Its head office is located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
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Virgin Blue was formed in 2000 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Virgin Group.
In 2001 the then Air New Zealand owned Ansett Australia made a buyout offer of $250 million which, was publicly rejected by Richard Branson.[1]
In 2002 Virgin came to an agreement with Patrick Corporation to invest in the airline, to allow it to grow into a national airline, filling the void left by the demise of Ansett Australia.[2]
In return for a 50% share of the company, Patrick invested A$260 million. At the time, the view was that Patrick's shareholding would also allow the company to benefit from their new shareholders political connections with the Howard Government, and also 'Greenwash' the company, allowing it to be described as Australian-owned. [3]
In 2003 Virgin Blue Holdings Limited was floated on the Australian Securities Exchange as Virgin Group sought to sell down its holdings.[2]
Patrick Corporation was later taken over and merged into Toll Holdings in 2006, who continued the partnership and ownership of shares in Virgin Blue Holdings. In 2008 the group announced a plan to distribute 98.3% of its shares in the company to its shareholders, thus making itself no longer a majority stakeholder.[4] At the time Toll Holdings owned 62.7% of the company and had previously attempted to sell the share to no avail.[5][6]
On the 20 January 2011, Air New Zealand purchased 14.99% of shares in Virgin Blue Holdings ltd, paying A$145 million (NZ$188.9 Million).[7]
Virgin Australia Holdings has its head office in Virgin Village in Bowen Hills, Brisbane. As of 2008, 1,000 employees work at Virgin Village.[8] The building, with about 13,220 square metres (142,300 sq ft) A-Grade office space, was triple net leased to Virgin Blue.[9]
As the airline started operations, it decided to place its head office in the Brisbane area. Brett Godfrey, the-then chief executive of Virgin Blue, said in 2006 that the decision "was a long considered one and has worked well."[10] The airline originally had its head office in Fortitude Valley. The airline purchased a $61 million site in Bowen Hills for its new head office. The firm Sunland Group, which had acquired the Bowen Hills site for $8 million in 2005, had scheduled to complete the new head office in March, and the airline would be ready to move into the new head office by August of the following year.[11] The current head office facility, Virgin Village, formally opened on 17 October 2008.[12]
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