ACCC gives green light to Virgin-Tiger deal Virgin Australia will be able to forge ahead with its bid for Tiger Australia after the competition regulator decided not to oppose a deal which will shake up the country's aviation industry. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it would not oppose Virgin's bid for a 60 per cent stake because it was unlikely to lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the domestic market. Essential to reaching this view was the ACCC's assessment ... that Tiger Australia would be highly unlikely to remain in the local market if the proposed acquisition didn't proceed. Absent this conclusion the acquisition raised considerable competition concerns,"" chairman Rod Sims said. Mr Sims said the regulator concluded that Tiger was ""highly likely"" to leave the Australian market if Virgin's acquisition did not go ahead. ""Accordingly, blocking the acquisition would not serve to protect competition,"" he said. Virgin Australia now has the opportunity to pursue its stated objective of transforming Tiger Australia into an effective competitor to Jetstar for price sensitive travellers. The bid for a controlling stake in Tiger is central to the plans of Virgin chief executive John Borghetti to set up a dual-brand airline group - a Qantas Mini-Me. It will enable Virgin and Tiger to take on Qantas and Jetstar with the advantage of a lower cost base. Mr Borghetti had threatened to walk away from the deal if the regulator forced it to stick to increasing Tiger's fleet from 11 to up to 35 planes over five years caught some by surprise. The Singapore parent of Tiger Australia has also played a game of brinkmanship by intimating that without the green light, it would pull its operations out of Australia.