FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Lufthansa (>> Deutsche Lufthansa AG) is seeking a partnership with, or a complete takeover, of holiday airline Condor to further expand its low-cost Eurowings business, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Talks with Condor parent Thomas Cook (>> Thomas Cook Group plc) have been going on since at least January, they said.
Lufthansa, Condor and Thomas Cook all declined to comment.
Lufthansa launched Eurowings last year in a fresh attempt to crack the low-cost market and compete with the likes of Ryanair (>> Ryanair Holdings plc) and easyJet (>> easyJet plc).
It has said it aims to use Eurowings to bundle various subsidiaries and brands, and sources recently told Reuters that it was also eyeing Scandinavian carrier SAS (>> SAS AB) and Brussels Airlines.
Talks with Thomas Cook could result in a marketing cooperation that would allow Lufthansa to buy capacity on Condor's 46 aircraft, sources told Reuters.
One option is also that Lufthansa could acquire a minority stake in Condor, or take over the airline completely.
"Due to Condor's 800 million euros (629 million pounds) in debt that Lufthansa would probably have to take on, too, a takeover would involve only a symbolic price," one of the sources said.
Also, Condor's long-haul fleet of Boeing 767 aircraft would need to be renewed soon, they said.
(Additional reporting by Paul Sandle in London; writing by Maria Sheahan; editing by Christoph Steitz and David Clarke)
By Peter Maushagen