Sir Mike B of Midland
 

Will this change things when Sir M of Midland wants to sell his shares within the next year? With Lufthansa getting a good share of Jetblue Lufthansa would not be in a position to buy some of Sir Ms shares that would be on the market?:ok:

I very much doubt it. $300 million (about €200 million) is a drop in the ocean for a huge company like lufthansa. They hve plenty more money to spend if/when they takeover BMI

Lufthansa is interested in acquiring a 51% share of LOT
 

Lufthansa (Frankfurt) continues its shopping spree with its available cash looking for airline bargains. It is negotiating to acquire a 51 percent share of LOT Polish Airlines (Warsaw). It will apparently not settle for less than a majority share of the Polish flag carrier. The last time LOT was sold was to Swissair (Zurich) which later went bankrupt (the SR receiver still controls 25.1 percent of the LOT shares).

:ugh: Now Now, Lot was trying to expand its wings, but under LH, they will be just another small operator....

Lufthansa Shopping Spree
 

Bloomberg.com: Germany
Bussels airlines, Austrian, Alitalia..... Soon to be known as Air Europe?

Never. Ve vill not give up ze name Lufthansa! Never!

Good on Lufthansa for having a good balance sheet to be able to afford these purchases.

Whether it's prudent business sense in the current climate (they've probably made some sums) and whether they'll be required to keep the brands (similar to AirFranceKLM), is another question...

S.

I think it will actually be very good for SN; the RJ85/100 isn't the most attractive acft to a business traveller and hopefully LH's involvement will give them access to larger aircraft.

Also, BRU has an obvious attraction as a major hub, which - to its ultimate cost - (the original) SN never capitalised on. I think this will be very good for Belgium.

Ironic, though, that the descendants of Swissair and Sabena end up under the same umbrella!

As to where LH's shopping spree will end, hard to say? Austrian and bmi will probably be next.

It is good that Lufthansa is able to afford these purchases and you only have to look at Swiss to see the good work done, but with Swiss plus SN Brussels, its looking at Alitalia, Austrian, was previously sniffing around Iberia, is keen to buy BMI, i imagine it will look at CSA in Czech, and i even heard someone mention it could look at SAS at somepoint!!! (personally id be surprised) its already got stakes in a number of other airlines and not just German is it going to get to a point where its told it has too much across Europe by the EU?. I know some of these airlines are small, but it seems every time an airline comes up for sale - of which i think several will in the coming 18 months or so - Lufthy seems to throw its hat in the ring.

Lufthansa
 

Shares in SAS have been suspended as rumours of a bid by Lufthansa increase.

Also looks like they have fully given up on Alitalia and are going direct (from Ft)

The German flag carrier said it was planning to base six Airbus A319 short-haul jets at Milan’s Malpensa airport to launch a network of direct point-to-point services between Milan and leading European cities.
The move is the first by the German group to establish a base outside its national market to serve other countries rather than to feed passenger traffic into its main hubs at Frankfurt and Munich.
Lufthansa said it would begin flights in February from Malpensa to Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid and Paris. It was planning to add flights from Milan to London and Lisbon from the summer season next year.

Good News - Lufthansa Growth
 

FT.com Article

Why are BA not planning to grow more aggressively on business routes within Europe - they too should be planning a similar venture asap


Lufthansa plans network from Milan

By Kevin Done in London

Published: September 11 2008 19:49 | Last updated: September 11 2008 19:49

Lufthansa is moving aggressively into the north Italian market to take advantage of the parlous state of Alitalia.

The heavily loss-making Italian airline was locked in talks with the government, trades unions and potential investors about the terms for a last-ditch rescue as its operations were hit again by cancellations and industrial action.

The German flag carrier said it was planning to base six Airbus A319 short-haul jets at Milan’s Malpensa airport to launch a network of direct point-to-point services between Milan and leading European cities.

The move is the first by the German group to establish a base outside its national market to serve other countries rather than to feed passenger traffic into its main hubs at Frankfurt and Munich.

Lufthansa said it would begin flights in February from Malpensa to Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid and Paris. It was planning to add flights from Milan to London and Lisbon from the summer season next year.

Karl Ulrich Garnadt, a director of Lufthansa’s passenger airline division, said the group would offer Italian customers a “reliable” service from Milan.

“The catchment area around Milan Malpensa stretches to the south of Switzerland and economically is one of the most important regions in Europe,” he said.

Lufthansa said the Milan-based aircraft would be operated by its Italian subsidiary Air Dolomiti, which hitherto has largely acted as a feeder airline into the group’s Munich hub.

The German group has enlarged its ambitions from its previous plan to move into Malpensa with a number of locally-based Embraer regional jets.

As the Alitalia operation shrinks amid restructuring and mounting losses, several of Europe’s strongest carriers including Air France-KLM, EasyJet and Ryanair are increasing their operations in Italy to take advantage of the vacuum.

EasyJet, the UK low-cost carrier, which opened a base at Milan Malpensa in March 2006, is increasing its presence from 11 to 15 Airbus A319s by the end of the year.

Its Milan network already includes several domestic Italian routes, but it recently announced it would begin a four times daily service between Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino from November, challenging the Italian carriers Alitalia and Air One on the biggest and most lucrative domestic Italian air route.

Ryanair, the leading European low-cost carrier, which has three operating bases in Italy at Rome Ciampino, Pisa and Milan Bergamo, recently announced plans to add two more at Bologna and Forli.

The Irish carrier will start flying seven routes into Bologna from the end of October. It is establishing the operating base at the airport in June 2010 with two aircraft, rising to five by 2012, when it forecasts it will be handling 25 routes and 2m passengers through the city.

A smaller base, with only one aircraft, will be established at nearby Forli next March.

more from the ft
Lufthansa in takeover talks with SAS

By Gerrit Wiesmann in Berlin and David Ibison in Stockholm
Published: September 12 2008 19:28 | Last updated: September 12 2008 19:28

Lufthansa is in early-stage talks with SAS about taking over the Scandinavian carrier, in a move that would consolidate its position as Europe’s second-biggest airline.
As a diversified airline group, the German carrier has taken the knocks on cost and demand better than most rivals. It has made no secret of the fact that it sees the airline industry crisis as a chance to pick up bargains. Europe’s airlines are struggling with high fuel prices and flagging demand, creating opportunities for stronger carriers to snap up weaker rivals.

LH have a link with Italy through AirDolmoti (I think thats how it is spelt!:confused::}). BA don't.

However, expanding in Rome maybe a good option whether they have links or not. Let Air One/easyJet/Lufthansa fight it out at MXP and take out Air One in FCO!

It would be a great idea but BA won't venture out of London in the UK, so I doubt we will ever see them venture to Europe (properly)

So what is OpenSkies ?

I believe 'Open Skies' is based in Europe.

Sorry.

By "properly" I meant the full BA service ie) British Airways. Not Openskies, Sunair, Cityflyer etc. but BA.

Should have been more clear.

Sorry.

Lufthansa is looking at forming an alliance involving bmi and Virgin Atlantic
 

Lufthansa sees bmi as weapon in BA battle

Lufthansa sees bmi as weapon in BA battle - Times Online

why don't you stop posting the same stories repeatedly?

You have posted the same link or story line at least 4 times today.

I believe the same company last tried to rule the British skies in the 1940s!:ok:

Lufthansa moves to buy Brussels Airlines
 

The German carrier acquires 45% stake for €65m and retains right to buy remaining 55% in 2011 for no more than €250m

Lufthansa moves to buy Brussels Airlines - Times Online

http://img2.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/...ghting0023.gif

'ang on....

Some time ago worthy Swissair bought Sabena for a lot of dough.
Swissair went "hobbe" some years ago, and had to pay another lot of dough to Sabena who went into liquidation a day after Swissair.
Now Lufty has bought Swiss and dares another attempt at buying SN Brussels... Will that work better under a common german roof ?

I get the slight feeling that whatever you're doing in this business there's always one wealthy partner buying the sad pile which is not transporting passengers anymore.

Were I a swiss taxpayer, however, I'd feel I paid enough to that airline in belgium by now...

Lufthansa open a base at Milan MXP
 

From February 2009, Lufthansa will open a base at Milan MXP and start 8 new european route: Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid and Paris. From 2009 summer timetable will be added London and Lisbon.

Will be based 6 A319 operated by Lufthansa’s Italian subsidiary Air Dolomiti with 150 new jobs.

The flights from Milan can be booked from mid-October with round-trip flights available from 99 euros, including taxes and charges.

This is only the first step to make MXP a new Lufthansa hub, later will be added a lot of new european and domestic route and long haul flight operated by A330/A340.

Bye Bye Alitalia and welcome Lufthansa! :D

Lufthansa full press release: Lufthansa - Press Releases