Stoddart to sell airline, but not to help Minardi.

Minardi team boss Paul Stoddart is on the verge of selling his European Aviation business, but the ex-pat Aussie insists that the deal is not being done to save his position in Formula One.

With a significant amount of his personal time and finance being poured into Minardi, Stoddart admitted that the sale was going through in order to give the airline a better future. He also revealed that it was just the flight company that was being sold off, and not the entire European operation, which includes the stock and supply of aircraft parts.

The Australian could not name the buyer, but admitted to Reuters that the sale was being completed for a smaller sum than he had been offered prior to the 11 September terrorist attacks, which severely dented the global airline industry.

Despite the threat of arbitration regarding television revenues hanging over his head, Stoddart insisted that he would not be putting the finance raised from the sale of the airline back into Minardi.

"The money is not going back into Formula One," he claimed, "Besides, I don't foresee Minardi having to pay that [television] money out. [The threat] seems to be subsiding. It's not gone away, but I think common sense will prevail and I'm fairly confident that we'll suffer no financial effect from that."

European Aviation operated a handful of Boeing 747 and 737 jets from Bournemouth airport on Britain's south coast, and was frequently used to transport Minardi equipment and personnel to races - something that Stoddart said would continue.