Is Virgin Blue the next Star in the sky?

There is mounting speculation that Virgin Blue is preparing the ground to join the Star Alliance.

CEO John Borghetti’s was present at the Star CEOs’ meeting in Queenstown, New Zealand on Monday and later told Air Transport World, “There’s a chance for Virgin Blue to look at everything.

“We’ve got a lot on at the moment and we’re evaluating everything, and I mean everything, and certainly as we go forward we’ll see where that leads.”

Borghetti said he expects a decision “pretty quickly.”

Star has had no Australian partner since the 2002 collapse of Ansett.

Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue are currently working to persuade the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to reverse its draft ruling and approve their proposed trans Tasman alliance.