The potential for Lufthansa to buy into airBaltic was mentioned by Latvian Television last week, though as yet no confirmation has been made by anyone connected to ongoing negotiations with the "strategic investor".
At the end of August, the German news agency DPA, citing Lufthansa's CEO Jens Ritter, reported that the airline would be interested in another airline operating its shorter routes, with airBaltic mentioned as one potential partner.
airBaltic and Lufthansa already have a codeshare agreement and other forms of cooperation such as leasing agreements are in place with Lufthansa Group companies including Swiss and Eurowings Discovery.
Two days ago LTV reported that the still-anonymous strategic investor might be interested in a 10% stake in airBaltic ahead of a planned Initial Public Offering (IPO) later this year.
airBaltic's German chairman and chief executive officer Martin Gauss has remained tight-lipped about the identity of his negotiating partner, but hinted recently that when it was revealed there would be "a big surprise in the positiveness about that name". Lufthansa would seem to fit that description but for now it should be stressed that nothing has been made official.
