Shareholders in low cost airline Easyjet today approved the company's plans to acquire rival Go for STG£374 million.
The deal will see it overtake Ryanair as Europe's largest budget carrier with over 13 million passengers and 3,000 staff.
The shareholders also approved a share issue to raise STG£277 million to fund part of the deal, the remainder of which will come from existing cash reserves.
Last month, EasyJet announced the deal to buy its UK rival for STG£374 million. The deal will create the biggest low-cost carrier in Europe.
Go, which was established by British Airways and started flying in 1998, was sold in June last year for STG£100 million to a management buyout supported by 3i, which, together with funds it controls, holds a 67.5 per cent stake.
Go had announced plans for an initial public offering on the London stock market this year, with some of the proceeds to be used for an expansion of its fleet.
In the six months to the end of March, it reported a 36 per cent rise in revenues to £194 million and its first ever pre-tax profit compared to a loss of £10.3 million for the same period last year. Passenger numbers were up 36 per cent to 4.3 million, while five new routes were launched from Gatwick.
It also said it doubled its Northern Ireland passenger numbers in the first half, despite the severe downturn in the aviation industry since September 11th. It said it had carried 736,000 passengers to and from Northern Ireland, up 100 per cent on the same period in the previous year.