Singapore Airlines has increased its stake in Virgin Australia from 9.9% to 19.9%.
The move came the day after Australia approved Virgin’s deal to purchase a controlling stake in Singapore Airlines’ associate budget carrier Tiger Airways Australia.
Australia and Asia-Pacific are key growth markets in the aviation sector.
As a result, airlines have been keen to increase their presence in the region in an attempt to tap into the growing travel demand, said the BBC.
Last year, Qantas announced an alliance with Emirates in an attempt to strengthen its hold on the Australian market and boost its international operations from the country.
Analysts said that Singapore Airlines was keen to ensure that the Qantas and Emirates deal did not hurt its market share and that its deal with Virgin was an attempt towards countering that partnership.
