Virgin Express in talks

December 24, 2001 Posted: 1609 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Belgium-based airline Virgin Express has said it is in talks with the successor to collapsed national carrier Sabena on a possible cooperation agreement, The Associated Press reported.

While Virgin Express spokesman Yves Panneels said talks with Delta Air Transport (DAT) had reopened, he denied British newspaper reports that a merger was imminent.

"We will have to see where these talks end up," he said.

London's Sunday Times newspaper reported that Belgian investors, who acquired DAT for a symbolic 1 ($0.89) on Friday, would merge the airline with Virgin Express, the budget airline 51 percent owned by British entrepreneur Richard Branson.

A management official at DAT, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP the company was seeking a partner for a deal that would go beyond cooperation on routes and code sharing, but declined to give details.

Sabena, which was declared bankrupt on November 7, was one of the first airline casualties of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Its new investors have raised 180 million ($162 million) to keep DAT flying into the New Year.

Branson's Virgin group took over Brussels-based EuroBelgian Airlines in 1996, renamed it Virgin Express and transformed its mainly charter business into a no-frills scheduled airline operating on a limited number of European routes out of its Brussels hub.