Loading ...Although the UK media has been full of speculation over the course of the past several months that Lufthansa might be interested in buying British Midland (BMI), Germany’s flag carrier appears to have partly confirmed these predictions, according to a report in the London Times. Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa’s CEO, told journalists that his company did, in fact, have an option to purchase the airline and that the price had already been agreed upon. Mayrhuber then went further to hint that Lufthansa is interested in BMI by referring to the importance of London’s Heathrow Airport, where British Midland is the second largest carrier and controls a large number of valuable landing slots. “ Heathrow is a desirable place to fly to and we will do what makes commercial sense for us there,” the Lufthansa chief told journalists earlier today.
Lufthansa currently controls 20 percent of BMI’s shares. Eight years ago, when it bought its first stake in this UK airline, the German carrier was given the option of purchasing more shares in the future. Industry analysts, however, predict that Lufthansa would have to pay as much as £440 million if it were to buy the rest of the carrier.
British Midland was established in 1949 and the carrier currently focuses on offering passengers low-cost service within the UK and Europe. The airline operates bases at Heathrow and at the Manchester International Airport.
www.lufthansa.com
