Bird & Bird, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Dentons have all won roles on Virgin Atlantic's sale and leaseback of 11 new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, valued at over $100m (£62m) each.

Virgin has agreed that a leasing company will pay the purchase price to Boeing and then immediately lease the aircraft back to the carrier. The aircraft are due for delivery over the next four years, and by 2017 the 787s will represent 40% of the Virgin fleet.

Richard Branson's airline will become the first European operator of the "green" plane when it debuts on a flight from Heathrow to Boston later this month. The fleet will continue flying to New England six times a week from October 28, followed by deployment on routes to Washington DC and New York City's Newark and JFK airports.

The Two Birds team advising Virgin was led by joint head of aviation and defence Paul Briggs with aviation associates Will Alete and Almas Daud, all from the firm's London office.

Briggs originally advised Virgin on the purchase agreement between the airline and Boeing for 15 Dreamliners in 2006. With options for a further eight planes and purchase rights on another 20, Virgin's order was worth up to $8bn (£4.98bn) at the time.

Two Bird's aviation practice in Asia is currently headed by former Virgin Atlantic counsel Leo Fattorini, and earlier this year the firm also took on former Air Arabia group general counsel Anna Anatolitou to boost the firm's aviation and disputes practice in the Middle East.

Freshfields and Dentons acted for the lessors of the aircraft, taking roles with AerCap and Avolon respectively.

Does your firm support mobile working? Complete this Legal Week survey for a chance to win an iPad Air: click here.