Administrators working on the sale of Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) are looking to borrow USD129 million dollars to keep the airline in the air while it is being prepared for sale, according to a report in The Australian. The cash is necessary to keep the airline's skeleton flying programme going until the end of June when Deloitte hopes to have concluded the sale to one of the 20 bidders circling the ailing carrier.

The newspaper also suggested that prior to going into voluntary administration, Virgin Australia was down to its last USD20 million dollars in spare cash. In addition, the struggling carrier is alleged to have contacted the Australian government eight times in the run-up to its move into administration, asking for hand-outs of ever-decreasing amounts. The last denied request was believed to be around USD130 million.

Speculation is also mounting around the formations of the 20 or so bidders believed to be interested in acquiring Virgin Australia. The latest of these links Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) with Oaktree Capital Management, a US-based private equity fund. The Middle Eastern carrier is already one of the Australian airline's owners, holding a 20.94% stake. Other shareholders include Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) (20.09%), Nanshan Group (19.98%), HNA Group (19.82%), and Virgin Group (10.42%), with around 9% in free float.

It is also understood that Bain Capital, which counts Jane Hrdlicka former Jetstar Airways (JQ, Melbourne Tullamarine) Chief Executive Officer as an adviser has also been part of the group. However, it is now thought that Bain may no longer be part of the Etihad/Oaktree consortium after it was earlier identified as a potential Virgin Australia contender. Other bidders to recently throw their hats into the ring have included Indigo Partners and Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest.

What is clear, however, is that the situation with regards to the likely make-up of the final consortia will remain fluid in these early stages of the contest for control of Virgin Australia.

Estimates of the price that could be achieved for Virgin Australia range between AUD2.5-4 billion (USD1.61-2.58 billion). Australia's second-largest airline is looking to restructure its AUD6.9 billion (USD4.39 billion) debt.