A consortium led by Virgin Atlantic and Stobart Air has completed the takeover of stricken regional carrier Flybe.

Connect Airways took control of two Flybe subsidiaries, Flybe Limited and Flybe.com Limited, earlier in a deal valued at £2.8 million, or one pence per share.

Hedge fund Cyrus Capital is the third party in the consortium.

All Flybe assets and operations are now owned by Connect Airways and Flybe flights continue to operate as normal, according to a statement from the company.

Following the completion of the sale, Flybe Group is now a non-trading entity with no subsidiaries and no material assets.

The deal closed just days after it emerged a consortium led by US airline Mesa had tabled a last-minute rescue deal.

The offer, which was rejected by Flybe, would have seen the US carrier inject £65 million in new equity into Flybe at roughly 4.5 pence per share.

Flybe had previously stated that if the Connect Airways deal did not complete then it would have to be wound up.

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Flybe flies more UK domestic flights than any other airline, some 53 per cent of all UK flights within mainland Britain (excluding London). 

The carrier currently operates 190 routes serving 12 countries from 73 departure points in the UK and Europe and is the largest scheduled airline by air traffic movements at Aberdeen, Belfast City, Birmingham, Cardiff, Doncaster Sheffield, Exeter, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Jersey, Manchester, Newquay and Southampton airports.

Flybe operates a fleet of 76 aircraft – 54 Bombardier Q400, six Embraer E195, 11 E175 and five ATR.