Green light for Virgin-Tiger deal Virgin Australia is free to take control of Tiger Australia after the competition regulator decided not to oppose a deal which will shake up the country's aviation industry. Absent this conclusion, the acquisition raised considerable competition concerns,"" chairman Rod Sims said. In morning trade, Virgin shares are up 3.5 per cent to 45 cents. In a big win for Virgin, the regulator has not imposed conditions on the airline to live up to plans to boost Tiger's fleet from 11 to 35 over the next five years. Virgin chief executive John Borghetti had threatened to walk away from the deal if the regulator forced it to grow the budget airline at a certain rate. The green light for the bid will return Australia to an effective duopoly between two airline groups - Virgin and Qantas - because it will remove an independent third player in Tiger. But Mr Sims said the ACCC concluded that Tiger was ""highly likely"" to leave the Australian market if Virgin's acquisition did not go ahead. In reaching its decision, the regulator tested the likelihood of Tiger Australia's performance being improved under a range of alternative scenarios including other potential shareholders. But the ACCC considered it unlikely the loss-making Tiger Australia could be turned around under these scenarios. ""Instead its key assets, being the 11 Airbus aircraft, would very likely be redeployed into the Asian operations of its parent company,"" Mr Sims said. The bid for control of Tiger is central to the plans of Mr Borghetti to set up a dual-brand airline group - a Qantas Mini-Me. Mr Borghetti said in statement on Monday that clearance from the regulator gave it a ""real opportunity to provide strong competition in the budget travel segment and bring further benefits to consumers"." "By partnering with Tiger Airways, we can use our local expertise to build a sustainable budget carrier, which will offer great value airfares and benefit jobs and tourism in Australia,"" he said. The deal still needs approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.