A two-year wait has finally yielded the much-vaunted outcome. American carrier Delta Air Lines has agreed to pick up a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic for $360 million, which will give it access to London's Heathrow airport, the veritable hub of European corporate travelers.

Delta, which already has KLM, Air France and Alitalia CAITLA.UL as its partners in Europe, will look to leverage the joint venture with Virgin Atlantic to take a vantage position in the transatlantic air travel segment.

As reported earlier, the stake in Virgin was key to Delta gaining landing and take-off rights at Heathrow. The partnership with other European carriers also helped Delta to overcome EU's reservation regarding any non-European company wresting a majority control over any European airlines.

Delta will look to build on Virgin's strong luxury brand and boost the revenues in the sector. The other partners will also benefit from the deal. Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson said the venture will be "very positive and accretive for our long-term partners".

Virgin CEO Richard Branson said the deal "signals a new era of expansion."

Branson said the two partners "will cooperate on growing the number of places we fly." Branson also stated categorically that he had no plans to relinquish his stake in the company or leave the business. "I'm not going anywhere," he said.

One trade analyst pointed out that Delta aims to dominate the biggest business market in the world, New York, for which a strong presence at Heathrow is necessary.

As per the deal, Delta and Virgin would share costs and revenue on routes between UK and North America, operating 31 round-trip flights between the UK and all of North America during the peak seasons, 23 of which operate at London Heathrow. Currently, Delta operates 10 of those flights and Virgin the remainder.

Meanwhile, the antitrust concerns regarding the deal have not been reportedly fully addressed. In this light, Virgin has stated that Delta will have three of seven board seats and that the share purchase would require an antitrust review, while the joint venture would require antitrust immunity.