Virgin interested in Lufthansa and bmi

Reports of the German national carrier Lufthansa taking over the British airline bmi are rampant, but nothing has yet been publicly confirmed. If the deal is done however, it has been speculated that Virgin Atlantic would be interested in getting involved with the merger. An anonymous source close to Virgin and Lufthansa said that Virgin execs would be interested in such a merger, with Virgin CEO Richard Branson keeping his majority 51 percent ownership. “Virgin would be interested in linking up with Lufthansa if its deal with BMI goes through at the end of the year,” said the source.

The potential shuffle comes just after the second largest stakeholder in Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, said it was holding its stake in the airline to a review. If Singapore sells its shares in Virgin, their cut could be close to $1 billion.

The source went on to say, “A three-way tie up between Virgin, Lufthansa and BMI would give all three firms a bigger presence at Heathrow, as well as a beefed up short-haul and long-haul networks.”