Virgin to appeal bmi sale to British Airways International Airlines Group, which owns BA, sealed the £172.5m deal earlier this year. The EC gave the purchase the go-ahead despite complaints from Virgin. The EC did demand that BA give up some of its slots at Heathrow, remedies which Sir Richard said did not go far enough. "This is the last big exchange of UK flying slots - 8.5pc of Heathrow's total number - leaving BA with 54pc of all take-off and landing rights at the world's busiest airport, while leaving its nearest British rival, Virgin Atlantic, with only 3pc," he said. We hope to overturn this decision on appeal and in the process win a much bigger chunk of bmi's network.