Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chief executive of Lufthansa, has dismissed fears that the German airline's plan to purchase a 19 per cent stake in JetBlue Airways, the US low-cost carrier, could disrupt relations with its existing North American partners in the Star alliance - United Airlines, US Airways and Air Canada.
The surprise move, announced last week, was described by many analysts as an "opportunistic" move by Lufthansa to take advantage of the historic low in the JetBlue share price, as well as the weakness of the dollar against the euro.
The injection of about $305 million in fresh equity into JetBlue comes as the US carrier was looking at options to bolster its fin-ances ahead of a looming downturn in the US market and as it presses on with an ambitious expansion of its fleet. |
