Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) has been given the go-ahead from the Australian Treasurer to increase its shareholding in Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) by 3% to 25.9%. "The opportunity to take our shareholding in Virgin to 25.9 per cent and the recently extended Tasman Alliance with Virgin mean we can confidently work with Virgin to provide a strongly competitive, Australasian and international airline network," chief executive Christopher Luxon said in a statement. The acquisition is however still subject to Air New Zealand complying with the ‘creep’ provisions under the Australian Corporations Act. Virgin also counts Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) and Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) as shareholders. The increase comes at a time when Virgin Australia is taking the fight for dominance of Australia's domestic and regional skies to Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith). According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the "war" began "18 months ago when it began increasing capacity by putting more aircraft on routes that had previously been neglected, and targeted the lucrative corporate and government clients." Qantas had retaliated warning it would "continue to fight to maintain its market share at 65 per cent or higher."