Monday 04 March 2019 4:18 pm | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 1:22 am

Flybe shareholders approve airline sale to Virgin-led Connect Airways

Shareholders in ailing airline Flybe have today approved its acquisition by Virgin-led consortium Connect Airways.

At a general meeting today, 63 per cent of shareholders voted with the board's recommendation that they approve the sale, while 37 per cent staged a revolt and voted against it.

Flybe has been urging its shareholders to accept the Connect Airways offer, which it said provided the "only viable option the business needs to continue to trade successfully".

However, the airline's largest shareholder, Hosking Partners, threatened legal action over the cut-price takeover of the airline and accused the company’s directors of breaching duties to investors.

Flybe today confirmed that the nominal value of each share stands at 1p each, valuing the airline at £2.8m.

Flybe said: "The results of the shareholder votes will not impact the assets, flights and operations of Flybe Ltd, which continue to operate as normal under the ownership of Connect Airways following the completion of the sale of Flybe's two operating subsidiaries, Flybe Ltd and Flybe.com Ltd."

However, the airline's shareholders did not get a vote on the sale of Flybe assets to Connect Airways, worth £2.8m, at the end of February, after the consortium entered into a share purchase agreement (SPA) for the Flybe Limited and Flybe.com Limited assets.