The High Court of Justice in London gave the green light to Virgin Atlantic’s GBP1.2 billon pound (USD1.6 billion) restructuring gambit on September 2. The deal is now set to be completed by the end of the week.
Judge Richard Snowden sanctioned the plan, which creditors voted in favour of it last week.
“This will allow you to make this plan effective by Friday, which I understand is your aspiration,” he said during the remote hearing, according to Reuters.
A procedural court session is scheduled in the United States for September 3 for the deal to be recognised there, but the ruling in London is not conditional on that process, Snowden said.
“In order to complete the private-only recapitalisation of the airline, our restructuring plan has gone through a court-sanctioned process under Part 26A of the UK Companies Act 2006, to secure approval from certain creditors before implementation,” a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said after the hearing, local media reported.
“Achieving this significant milestone puts Virgin Atlantic in a position to rebuild its balance sheet, restore customer confidence, and welcome passengers back to the skies, safely, as soon as they are ready to travel.”
The restructuring plan, which was announced on July 14, is based on a five-year business plan that already has the support of shareholders Virgin Group and Delta Air Lines as well as new private investors and existing creditors.
Ahead of the ruling but sensing victory, Virgin Atlantic revealed on September 1 that it would resume operations imminently from London Heathrow to Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson, Delhi International, Lagos, Mumbai International, and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion, with further routes to be added during 2020.
It has already restarted flights to Bridgetown, Hong Kong International, Los Angeles International, Miami International, New York JFK, and Shanghai Pudong, the ch-aviation capacities module shows.
Last week, it announced that it would launch services between the UK and Pakistan in December.
“We’ll have flights from Heathrow to both Lahore International and Islamabad International, plus direct service from Manchester International to Islamabad,” the carrier enthused in a tweet.
