Airlines Lufthansa considers consolidation with Norwegian

In an interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said, that a new wave of consolidation is approaching, and that Lufthansa is in talks with Norwegian. He added, that in Europe everyone would be in contact with everyone.

With a possible deal, Lufthansa would expand its low-cost segment, in which Germany´s biggest airline is currently establishing Eurowings as low-cost airline. In the newspaper´s interview Spohr hinted, that Eurowings aims to expand and launch more long-haul destinations in the future.

Regarding the question if Norwegian would fit with the Lufthansa Group, Spohr told the newspaper: “Takeovers are always a question of strategic value, the price and anti-trust. There are no easy answers.”

Following the speculations, Norwegian Air´s shares opened 10 percent higher, while Lufthansa shares were up 0.6 percent.

After the airline failures of Monarch and Air Berlin last year, aviation branch experts predicted more consolidations to happen in 2018. In the near future, the oil price could act as further a catalyst for airline consolidations as well.

In recent news, Norwegian rejected two bids from International Airlines Group (IAG), which is a leading airline holding company with subsidiary airlines like British Airways, Aer Lingus or Iberia. IAG subsidiary Vueling has announced recently, that it is likely to start a low-cost hub at Vienna airport, challenging Hungarian carrier Wizz Air at the airport.

Lufthansa is the largest German airline and is headquartered in Cologne, Germany. Its main operational hubs are in Frankfurt and Munich. However, Munich develops itself to be more and more important for the carrier, as Lufthansa is still experiencing problems with Frankfurt Airport. Lufthansa´s fleet consists of nearly 300 aircraft, including Airbus A319s, A320s, A321s, A330s, A340s, A350s, A380s and Boeing 747s. The airline is moreover the main factor in the Lufthansa Group, which includes airlines like Brussels Airlines, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo or Eurowings.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is headquartered in Norway and operates with a Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737 MAX 8 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The low-cost carrier has established hubs at several airports throughout Europe.