Virgin Australia chief says he has no plans to quit

[SYDNEY] Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti said he has no plans to quit and defended his turnaround strategy for the airline, the Australian Financial Review reported on Saturday.

His comments follow a tumultuous week in which Virgin's largest shareholder, Air New Zealand, flagged plans to sell its 26 per cent stake and Standard and Poor's cut its outlook for the company from stable to negative.

"I don't intend to go anywhere," Mr Borghetti, 60, told the newspaper.

"I've still got things I need to get done. This week is just one more week." Virgin has been cutting costs to help its recovery from a price war with larger Australian rival Qantas Airways Ltd.

But it has been slower to show the benefits, revealing this year that its cash reserves at Dec 31 were down by a quarter from a year earlier.

Virgin's share price was down 1.37 per cent at 36 Australian cents on Friday.

REUTERS