Virgin America apparently up for sale

Virgin America Inc., the Burlingame airline backed by British billionaire Richard Branson, is contacting potential buyers about a sale of part or all of the company, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Outside of the airline industry, buyout firms and travel companies could also make bids.

“A potential buyer, in our view, could be JetBlue, with similar fleet types, overlapping transcontinental services, similar high-quality product offerings and complementary networks,” Michael Derchin, an analyst at Sterne Agee CRT, said in a report Wednesday.

Jamie Baker, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, said it might not even be another airline that bids for Virgin, because of an unfavorable regulatory environment and Virgin’s lack of owned aircraft or dominant takeoff and landing slots at regulated airports.

“We would characterize the current regulatory environment as hostile towards further U.S. industry consolidation,” Baker said in a note Wednesday, adding that private-equity firms or travel companies may be more likely to be interested.