SHARES in Flybe took off on Friday following confirmation that Virgin Atlantic is in talks about a takeover bid for the struggling airline.
Virgin, part owned by Sir Richard Branson, is vying with Stobart to buy Flybe and is interested in its take-off and landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport.
The domestic airline said on Friday: "The board of Flybe Group notes the recent media speculation and confirms that Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited is one of the parties it is in discussions with as part of the formal sale process."
Flybe shares were up nearly 70 per cent in afternoon trade.
The regional airline put itself up for sale last week after warning over profits earlier in the year.
The Exeter-based carrier is battling challenging conditions in the airline industry and has been hit with falling demand and a £29 million hit from rising fuel costs and the weak pound.
Flybe has 78 planes operating from smaller airports including London City, Southampton and Norwich, and flies to destinations across the UK and Europe.
It carries around eight million passengers a year and Virgin would look to attract customers into its long-haul network via Flybe's domestic routes.
Virgin said in a statement: "Virgin Atlantic has a trading and codeshare relationship with Flybe and confirms that it is reviewing its options in respect of Flybe which range from enhanced commercial arrangements to a possible offer for Flybe."
Trade unions have already raised concerns over the impact of a Flybe's sale on the carrier's 2,300 employees.
In half-year results announced last week, Flybe saw cost-cutting help lift underlying pre-tax profits to £9.9 million from £9.2 million a year earlier.
But statutory pre-tax profits for the six months to September 30 more than halved to £7.4 million from £16.1 million a year earlier.
It saw group revenues fall 10 per cent or 2.4 per cent on an underlying basis to £409.2 million after it cut capacity by 9 per cent.
Last month the Irish News revealed that Flybe - which accounts for around two-thirds of passenger traffic at the George Best Belfast City Airport - is to scrap its Belfast City to Liverpool service from December 31.
At the time Roy Kinnear, Flybe's chief commercial officer, told the Irish News: "Flybe has a clearly defined network strategy which means we continually review our flights and network performance and will consider re-assigning any under-performing operations in order to better re-allocate resources to other stronger performing sections of our network.
"As such, we regret it has been necessary to suspend the Belfast-Liverpool service, with the last flight operating on Monday December 31.
"This is due to passenger numbers remaining below sustainable projections, with no sign of this improving despite very competitive pricing.
"But flights over the weekend of May 11-13 will operate to accommodate those football fans wishing to travel to Liverpool for the last day of the Premier League season."
He added: "All other passengers are being contacted in order of date of travel with the offer of being re-accommodated on an alternative flight or applying for a refund.
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience experienced as a result of our decision."
Flybe, which can trace its history back to 1979, mainly connects regional cities in the UK with each other and with cities elsewhere in Europe.
