Virgin confirms it is in Sabena talks

Virgin Express confirmed today it is in talks with the successor to collapsed Belgian state airline Sabena on a possible co-operation agreement, but denied that a merger is imminent.

Spokesman Yves Panneels said reports of a merger were ‘‘premature".

He confirmed however that Brussels based Virgin Express had reopened talks with former Sabena subsidiary DAT on reviving a commercial cooperation agreement. ‘‘We will have to see where these talks end up,’’ Panneels said.

Sir Richard 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.