Etihad Airways will move to increase its stake in Virgin Australia to a maximum 10% after being given the green light by the Australian Government.
Etihad currently has a 4.99% stake in Virgin Australia, acquired earlier this year.
The two airlines already have a strong partnership involving code-sharing on flights, joint marketing initiatives and reciprocal earn-and-burn on their respective frequent flier programmes.
Together, Etihad and Virgin Australia operate 24 flights per week between Australia and Abu Dhabi.
The first Etihad flights from Sydney to Abu Dhabi took place in March 2007 and since then it has started flights from Brisbane and Melbourne, with plans for services from Perth in future.
