BMI being taken over by Lufthansa.

[cHabu]

UK airline BMI is being taken over by Germany's Lufthansa.

Lufthansa, which already owns a 30% stake in BMI minus one share, is buying the 50% of the company owned by BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop.

The deal will give Lufthansa control of more flights from London Heathrow airport than any other airline except British Airways.

The remaining 20% of BMI is currently owned by Sweden-based Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).

BMI flew 10.6 million passengers last year and operates 54 aircraft. It controls 11% of landing and take-off slots at Heathrow.

Lufthansa said it intended to complete the deal by 16 January. It has not said how much it is paying for the 50% stake.

The German airline signed an agreement with Sir Michael back in 1989 that if he ever wanted to sell his BMI stake, it would have first refusal.

More here.

Credit: BBC News.

Bye, Chris.

[cHabu]

There's been a rumour about this doing the rounds of Jersey airport in the last couple of weeks.

The rumour also claims that Lufthansa want to close down BMIbaby and concentrate on BMI's mainline business. How true this is, time will tell....

Credit: Simon Brooke / Google Groups "Civil Spotters" group.

Bye, Chris.