Lufthansa may be interested in Portuguese airline TAP

16th May 2012 11:15

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa may be considering an offer for Portuguese airline TAP in order to strengthen its position in South America and protect its partnership with a key member of the Star Alliance of airlines."We will always look if someone approaches us, especially if it's a Star carrier, so we will definitely also look at TAP," Lufthansa spokesman Christoph Meier said in a news agency interview. "There are definitely reasons why they would be interesting. Their home market, for one."TAP Chief Executive Officer Fernando Pinto said last month that there were several groups interested in the company , including International Airlines Group (IAG).Lufthansa has a 11% market share in South America compared to IAG's 22%, and Air France-KLM's 21%, according to Davy Holdings analyst Stephen Furlong.By 11:45am, shares of Deutsche Lufthansa were up 0.48% to €8.749.SC