SN to join *A

[Desert Traveller]

LH is slowly but surely ring-fencing Germany with national airlines from neighboring countries...

LH press release

...add the rumours surrounding OS, LO, and SK to the mix. Oh, and not to forget BD.

As SEN living on the island I welcome the move, I guess, if the coming integrations follow the LX path...excellent value for money fares and competion with LH from Europe to Germany. However, I guess options in the affected countries will reduce.

[KeithMEL]

45% equity + complete takeover in 2011! That's a much larger stake than when I last read (was a small investment last time I was told IIRC).

Snuffs out any chance of SN in OW... a for me. But a yay for *A flyers in Center Europe.

[9V-JKL]

Sounds good to me as it seems like my work may take me to West Africa in the not too distant future. My colleague who goes there now, flies SN and/or AF

[Savage25]

Will we soon see the Luft-alliance?

[Desert Traveller]

ATW's take

9V-JKL, looks like LH wants to color in the white spot in WAfrica with *-colors. Good for you.
I visit Angola once a year, and until a couple of years ago, you had no *A options...now you have LH, SA, TP, soon there will be SN. And ET is still a possibility to join *A as well.

[Kiwi]

Will we soon see the Luft-alliance?

I don't think so, but perhaps Lufthansa All Europe Airlines? What are the airlines that they've been in talks with/rumours about recently?

bmi
Alitalia
Iberia
SAS (+ Spanair)
Austrian
Brussels
Virgin Atlantic

Have I missed any?

[jjpb3]

If the Lufthansa consolidation happens, would this create MR opportunities given M&M's minimum mileage for cross-border flights?

[Kiwi]

If the Lufthansa consolidation happens, would this create MR opportunities given M&M's minimum mileage for cross-border flights?

Yes. When LX joined a whole raft of multi-sector cheap business class fares became available. Do a search on FT for HON-run

10,000 miles for a cheap fare is easily done, and much more on some fares/schedules.

[jjpb3]

Yes. When LX joined a whole raft of multi-sector cheap business class fares became available. Do a search on FT for HON-run

10,000 miles for a cheap fare is easily done, and much more on some fares/schedules.

Awesome, thanks! I just might have to do some, ahem, research in 2009.

[Nick C]

TAM's going to join *A too.

[Desert Traveller]

Yes. When LX joined a whole raft of multi-sector cheap business class fares became available. Do a search on FT for HON-run

10,000 miles for a cheap fare is easily done, and much more on some fares/schedules.

And the fares for LX J recently dropped even lower with the introduction of Business Saver...I just did BHX-ZRH-STR return in J, 8k miles (+ 2k exec bonus) if banking with MM, for GBP250.

[Kiwi]

Actually that is more than I've paid for some LX weekend business specials (short notice). There is a dedicated thread for these in the LX forum on FT.