The chief executive of Lufthansa has given another hint that the German airline will exercise an option to buy British airline bmi, the second-largest carrier at Heathrow, the Times reports. The news comes exactly a month after another Lufthansa executive said that the airline was 'determined' to buy bmi.
The Times reports today that Wolfgang Mayrhuber has confirmed that Lufthansa holds an option that allowed it to take control of bmi, and that a price for the deal had been agreed at the time the arrangement was struck.
He would not say Lufthansa would definitely exercise its option, but said: 'London is a strong market and we have a strong position there. Heathrow is a desirable place to fly to and we will do what makes commercial sense for us there.'
Lufthansa's option agreement dates back eight years to when the German carrier took a 30% less one share stake in bmi (Scandinavian airline SAS own 20% and Sir Michael Bishop, the airline's founder, owns 50% plus one share). Senior aviation-industry sources told the newspaper that the price Lufthansa would have to pay to take control under the original deal was about £440m. |
