Europe’s largest national carrier, Lufthansa, has dismissed media speculation that it will purchase Croatia Airlines, a fellow Star Alliance member. The Croatian website “Tportal” has been informed by Lufthansa that it has not been negotiating with Croatia Airlines about a possible acquisition. Lufthansa refused to comment on additional speculation surrounding the possible purchase. In a statement, the airline said: "We have very good cooperation with Croatia Airlines that we hope will continue. At present, we are concentrating on the integration of Austrian Airlines, British Midland Airways and Brussels Airlines into the Lufthansa Group". Croatian daily “Jutarnji List” reported that Lufthansa was interested in taking over Croatia Airlines after an interview with the CEO of the Croatian national carrier who said that his company had financial problems and could only be saved through privatization.Meanwhile, about 4.000 Lufthansa pilots have gone on strike for 4 days in a dispute over job security. The carrier has cancelled about 3.000 flights and has warned of delays both domestically and internationally. The strike will also disrupt flights operated by low cost subsidiary Germanwings. Croatia Airlines announced that the strike would not affect the Croatian national carrier, although it will affect the airline’s passengers transiting through Germany to onward Lufthansa flights. Zagreb Airport said that only the Lufthansa flight from Zagreb to Frankfurt scheduled for 14.35 had been cancelled on Monday. Croatia Airlines said it would be willing to accept Lufthansa passengers on their routes between Germany and Croatia. The strike has since been suspended.
LH will not do the same mistake Swissair did years ago with the purchase of several ailing carriers.
ReplyDeleteAlso I do not see a real added value for LH to purchase a carrier in the size of OU or OU at all. They have OS and VIE and thats all they need in the region.
And of course, YM has not started flight to Nis today..... What a surprise, the same , old Balkan story, TRESLA SE PLANINA RODIO SE MIS!!!
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ReplyDeleteThe INI official website says: "Od 24. februara Montenegro Airlines počinje sa redovnim letovima na relaciji Podgorica - Niš - Podgorica."
I don't know whether this is a last minute change to the text or a mix up with dates. However, we should find out tomorrow what's up.
Oh God, in the Balkans it seems everything is lasminute.com.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thanks for info. I think this could work, using Podgorica as a transit, I meand For people from Nis and I must say Montenegro Airlines sometimes has very good prices, Basicly(as I said before for flight from BNX via BEG) the price is almost the same if you are flying directly from Podgorica to somwhere or from Nis via Podgorica. Lets see. Fingers crossed!
LH has enough problems with integrating BD, SN, OS etc. for the time being. Croatia AL is anyway a satellite doing what LH tells them to do. Mostly feeding FRA and MUC. No need to buy= cheaper that way. The croatian tax payer will pay.....
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