Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) has announced the completion of its acquisition of Skywest Airlines (Australia) (Perth International), initiated in October 2012. It is understood that, while Virgin Australia is now both the de facto and de jure 100% shareholder in the Australian domestic operator, Skywest will continue to operate independently, albeit that all scheduled services will be operated, sold and distributed under the Virgin Australia Regional Airlines brand shortly. At present, Skywest flies ten Fokker 100s and eight Fokker 50s on a variety of routes catering for both the mining community and Western Australian intrastate passenger services. It also operates six ATR72-500s and five ATR72-600s on regional routes on behalf of Virgin Australia. For its part, Virgin Australia says it intends to build on Skywest’s successful charter business and "will look to leverage and expand it across Australia."