COURT BACKS VIRGIN ATLANTIC RESCUE

VIRGIN Atlantic’s £1.2bn rescue has been signed off by a High Court judge.

Last week, the airline’s creditors voted to approve the deal, which the firm said was a ‘significant milestone in safeguarding its future’.

At a remote court hearing on Wednesday, Mr Justice Snowden sanctioned the restructuring plan – a key step of the process for Virgin Atlantic to implement the rescue package.

The judge said this will allow the airline to make the plan effective by Friday.

The £1.2bn rescue deal, announced in July, involves only private funds, and includes a cash injection of £200m from founder Sir

Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. David Allison QC, for Virgin Atlantic, told the court that four creditor meetings were held last week, with 100pc attendance and 100pc approval at three of them. The fourth saw the deal approved by the vast majority of those present and voting.

Allison said it was ‘in the best interests of all stakeholders’ to reach an agreement. A US procedural hearing will follow today. ÷ RYANAIR flew 7m passengers last month – fewer than half the 14.7m it carried in August 2019. But this was up from 4.4m in July and 400,000 in June, as some Britons jetted off abroad.