Lufthansa Group considers stake in AirBaltic

Lufthansa Group is reportedly seeking a stake in Latvian state-owned carrier AirBaltic ahead of the latter’s initial public offering (IPO).

The European aviation giant is in the early stages of assessing its options, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters.

The news come just a week after Lufthansa was said to also be interested in acquiring a stake in TAP Portugal and two months after it received European Commission approval to acquire a 41 per cent stake of Italian carrier ITA Airways.

AirBaltic on Thursday reported a 13 per cent year-on-year increase in passenger numbers for August. The carrier also reached its highest ever load factor – 89.8 per cent – last month, which marked a 6.6 percentage point increase compared to the same period last year.

The Latvian state currently holds a 97.97 per cent stake in the airline, which operates a network of more than 130 routes from Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius, Tampere and Gran Canaria. AirBaltic is reportedly preparing to launch an IPO by the end of 2024.

Recent reports in German press suggest Lufthansa is also interested in taking a stake in Air Europa after its rival IAG last month backed out of its planned acquisition of the Spanish carrier.