Lufthansa is in talks with the owners of Scandinavian carrier SAS and Brussels Airlines as it seeks to expand its network and its Eurowings low-cost platform, people close to the German airline said.
Two sources said on Wednesday that Lufthansa had been in talks with the owners of SAS since the autumn.
The talks could result in Lufthansa taking a stake in SAS – half owned by Denmark, Norway and Sweden – a cooperation, or some other kind of partnership, they said.
“SAS could be docked onto budget platform Eurowings,” one of the people said.
People familiar with the industry said that a full takeover of SAS by Lufthansa is seen as unlikely, while taking a minority stake would potentially come with a board seat and direct influence on the Scandinavian peer’s strategy.
“Lufthansa wants to build Eurowings, but it does not want to take on any restructuring risk,” one of those people said.
Lufthansa launched Eurowings last year, in a fresh attempt to crack the low-cost market and compete with the likes of Ryanair and easyJet. It has said it aimed to use it to bundle various subsidiaries and brands.
SAS, which has repeatedly been the subject of takeover speculation, expects to swing to a full-year profit this year and has said it wanted to play an active role in consolidation in Europe.
One of the sources close to the company said it was “as good as certain” that Lufthansa’s supervisory board would also discuss at a meeting on April 27 buying the 55 percent of Brussels Airlines which it does not yet own.
That news was also reported earlier on Wednesday by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Lufthansa, which is due to hold its annual general meeting on April 28, said it has been a partner with SAS since airline cooperation group Star Alliance was founded and as a result is in continuous talks with the Scandinavian carrier. “Anything else is speculation,” a Lufthansa spokesman said.
