Northwest Airlines' name has been added to the list of leading contenders to take a stake in Thai Airways International, a Government official in Bangkok has revealed.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, the country's permanent secretary for finance, revealed earlier this month that the US airline is a front runner, along with British Airways, to take a 23% stake in a partial privatisation scheduled for later this year. Other airlines linked to the share sale include fellow Thai Star Alliance member Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.
Although not a member of the Star Alliance, Singapore Airlines has a separate pact with Lufthansa and is widely rumoured to be preparing to join the alliance by late this year, raising speculation that Thai would be on its way out of the tie-up as its more powerful neighbour moves in.
A sale to either of the two front runners would bring the rumours to a conclusion, with Thai joining one of the rival alliances involving Northwest or BA.
Northwest and its US alliance partners strengthened their position in Asia on 12 April when they tied up a new link with Beijing-based Air China.
Source: Flight International
