Virgin Australia’s administrator Deloitte has shortlisted four candidates to take over the airline: Bain Capital, BGH Capital, Indigo Partners and Cyrus Capital Partners.
Virgin Australia's appointed administrator, Deloitte, led by Vaughan Strawbridge has been working with the company's management team on finding a new owner for several week.
Administrators had now shortlisted a "small number of well-funded parties with strong aviation credentials that are being invited into the next stage of the process".
Virgin Australia went into administration on April 21, owing about $7 billion.
There had been about 20 interested parties, including a last-ditch bid by the Queensland Government, but that list was culled at the end of last week.
At least eight "non-binding, indicative" offers were lodged with the administrators on Friday, and negotiations over the shortlist of four took place over the weekend.
Other parties that had considered initial non-binding offers before the shortlist included Canadian investor Brookfield, Indian aviation tycoon Rahul Bhatia, through his company InterGlobe Enterprises, and Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest.