Daily Times

FRANKFURT AM MAIN: German airline group Lufthansa said Thursday it is not interested in snapping up troubled Italian carrier Alitalia, as Rome hunts for a buyer after workers rejected a bailout plan.

“We are clearly not there to buy Alitalia,” finance chief Ulrik Svensson said during a teleconference with analysts on Lufthansa’s first-quarter financial results. Italian government ministers said Wednesday they would not oppose a takeover bid by the German behemoth, as they announced that Alitalia would be sold “to the highest bidder”.

Lufthansa, which already owns a stable of carriers including Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings, on Thursday reported a net loss of 68 million euros between January and March — a worse performance than the same period last year.

The result comes after a record year for Frankfurt-based Lufthansa, in which it booked profits of 1.75 billion euros ($1.90 billion) despite fierce competition from low-cost competitors and Gulf airlines such as Etihad.

Loss-making Alitalia’s future is up in the air after its workforce rejected a restructuring plan which management had presented as the only alternative to bankruptcy.