Lufthansa Group is planning to sell its 13% shareholding in Luxembourg’s flag carrier Luxair.
Luxembourg’s transport ministry says it recently received written confirmation from Lufthansa about its intent to sell the stake, after minister Francois Bausch had been verbally informed of the plan “some time ago”. The government is Luxair’s largest shareholder with a 39% stake.
As a next step, all shareholders will convene to discuss the airline’s future ownership structure and potential buyer for Lufthansa’s stake, the ministry says.
Lufthansa has not provided any detail about a timeplan for the sale. But Luxair says the German carrier has asked it to end a codeshare co-operation covering routes to Luxembourg from Frankfurt and Munich by the end of October.
Luxair operates four daily flights to Frankfurt as the sole operator on that route. Munich is served at the same frequency, though Lufthansa operates a smaller contingent of flights too.
For the winter 2015/2016 schedule, Lufthansa wants to operate both routes with own equipment, Luxair says.
However, the negotiations have not been completed yet. Luxair has proposed to continue operating the Frankfurt route under a wet-lease agreement with Lufthansa, the former carrier says.
Lufthansa acquired the stake in Luxair in 1993. The Frankfurt-based group says it is evaluating the sale as a result of regular reviews whether existing shareholdings still fit into its strategy.
It comes after the uptake earlier this year of an early redemption initiative for the German carrier's notes in JetBlue, relating to its 15% stake in the US carrier, which brought forward redemption from the original 2017 date as part of efforts to help reduce Lufthansa Group's balance-sheet debt.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
