Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Does Brussels Airlines expect Lufthansa to buy the balance of SN’s share in 2011?


In a recent interview with ETN Geert Sciot's answer was  "Lufthansa owns “call options,” which allows the group to buy the remaining 55 percent of the shares from 2011 onwards during 4 consecutive years, so it can happen between 2011 and 2015. It is [a] call option - this means Lufthansa has the right but not the obligation to buy these shares and become 100 percent owner of Brussels Airlines. We cannot speculate about what will happen, but the fact that this call option was negotiated and agreed says a lot of course"
In reply to the question of besides synergy effects in training, insurance, spares, maintenance, general procurement, where else will the Lufthansa group membership bring financial and other benefits for SN? Geert replied " Our sales teams will work together or join the same office buildings.
In some markets, we will jointly offer travel agents and corporate sales contract.s
We introduced the Miles & More frequent flyer program. Miles & More is recognized as Europe's best FFP.
Network optimization: We have started codeshares on several routes (Germany, UK, Switzerland, and soon Austria). Lufthansa has also put its code on several AFR routes of Brussels Airlines, vice versa Brussels Airlines can now offer via Lufthansa easy connections to Libreville, Khartoum, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Accra.
We can benefit from Lufthansa's strong IT knowhow.
Economies of scales.
Dozens of others areas.

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