Delta Air Lines to buy 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways.

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Delta Air Lines Incorporated is nearing a deal to buy a 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited from Singapore Airlines Limited and may pay less than $500m for it, three people familiar with the matter said.

The price range is $300m to $500m and an agreement may be announced this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Singapore Airlines paid £600m for the Virgin Atlantic stake in 1999, or about $966m now.

Bloomberg News reported that Delta and Virgin Atlantic may seek a joint venture on trans-Atlantic routes as part of the arrangement, two of the people said.

Virgin Atlantic’s base at London Heathrow airport is a gateway for flights across the North Atlantic, the world’s most lucrative market for premium passengers.

“Heathrow access, that’s what Delta finds attractive here,” said Savanthi Syth, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Incorporated in St. Petersburg, Florida, who rates Atlanta- based Delta outperform.

“This is not necessarily a carrier that they expect to make a big return on investment on. There’s a reason Singapore is getting out.”

Virgin Atlantic, founded and majority-owned by United Kingdom billionaire Richard Branson, posted a pretax loss of $129m for the year ended in February, and has delayed adding planes.

Representatives of Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Delta declined to comment about the sale process.

Delta, Air France-KLM and their SkyTeam partners are the smallest alliance group at Heathrow, with about 5 percent of takeoff and landing slots. Oneworld, led by British Airways and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, dominates with almost half of all service, followed by United Continental Holdings Inc. and its Star Alliance partners with about a quarter of slots.

Delta Dedicates Boeing 757 in Salute to Servicemen and Women.

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Hundreds of employees along with elected officials and representatives from military organizations and Atlanta-based charities gathered at Delta's Technical Operations Center to commemorate the renaming of a Boeing 757 as "Spirit of Freedom," in honor of the men and women – including more than 10,000 Delta employees – who have served and continue to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year, With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to nearly 313 destinations in 58 countries on six continents Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft.  Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft.  Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 13,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita

"At Delta, we have an obligation to support our employee servicemen and servicewomen, our veterans and the millions of others on active duty who fly with us each year," said Delta CEO Richard Anderson. "In honor of their brave acts of service, selflessness and sacrifice, we are proud to dedicate this aircraft as the 'Spirit of Freedom.'"

The Delta Honor Guard, an employee-led initiative, opened the program. These employee volunteers administer honor guards at more than a dozen U.S. airports for fallen heroes returning home.

In July, Delta accepted the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award for exceptional support of Guard and Reserve employees. The airline joins one of only 15 employers across the country and is the first airline in a decade to receive the award.

Delta's commitment to military service members extends year-round and across the travel experience. These efforts include:

1. Operation of more than 2,000 military charter flights in 2012;

2. Employee volunteer-staffed military lounges in Atlanta and Memphis and at USO lounges across the U.S.;

3. Coordination of care packages for those serving abroad and the donation of millions of miles to military-support organizations like the Fisher House Foundation and USO;

4. Recognition of servicemen and servicewomen in uniform by providing First Class and BusinessElite® upgrades when seats are available, priority boarding and complimentary Delta Sky Club access nationwide; and Delta will continue to honor veterans with a gate celebration at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport (DCA) Nov. 12-13, 2012.

Courtesy: DELTA Air.