European Commission investigation not a concern for Virgin Atlantic

Brussels: Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive, Craig Kreeger, is confident the European Commission will not find any irregularities in its joint venture with US carrier Delta.

“I haven’t spent a minute thinking about it,” Kreeger said in an interview with Gulf News on the sidelines of the SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels on Wednesday.

The European Commission is investigating a number of foreign holdings in European carriers. Delta owns 49 per cent of UK-based Virgin Atlantic.

The European Commission is cautious that some airlines are being controlled by non-European stakeholders. European carrier must be majority European owned, and controlled, to maintain landing rights.

“I am comfortable with everything we are doing from a government standpoint and I don’t really have an insight as to why we seem to have been lumped in with things they were generally concerned about,” Kreeger said.

Unlike other carriers, the European Commission has not approached Virgin Atlantic to open up its books and examine is relationship with Delta.

“I don’t feel singled out. I don’t feel exposed because I don’t think there is anything there and I’m not under any particular concern that anything will happen,” Kreeger said.

Etihad Airways, which owns minority stakes in a number of European carriers, has opened its books to the European Commission. James Hogan, president and chief executive, previously said the Abu Dhabi carrier has nothing to hide.