Flybe Group says its shareholders approved the sale of the company to the Connect Airways consortium during a General Meeting held on Monday, March 4.

In a stock market disclosure, the holding firm said 63% of shareholders had voted in favour of the sale with roughly 37% against.

Under the deal, Connect Airways, whose shareholders include Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group, and private equity firm, Cyrus Capital, acquired all of Flybe Group's 216,656,776 ordinary shares for GBP0.01 (USD0.0132) per share for a total of GBP2.166 million (USD2.862 million). The deal must now be sanctioned by a court at a hearing set for March 8.

The consortium had earlier acquired the group's subsidiaries - flybe. (2002) (Exeter) (including Flybe Aviation Services Ltd) and the digital company Flybe.com Ltd - for GBP2.8 million (USD3.61 million).

Various Flybe shareholders, including its largest one, Hosking Partners LLP, had earlier objected to the entire sale process claiming the airline had been undervalued. Against the backdrop of flybmi's sudden collapse in mid-February, the group's board had strongly urged shareholders to accept the deal arguing it was the best possible offer under the circumstances.