AUSTRIAN Airlines Group should reject any takeover bid by Deutsche Lufthansa AG to safeguard the country's air links with east Europe, Austrian Deputy Finance Minister Christoph Matznetter said yesterday.
The position may put Matznetter's Social Democratic Party at odds with its People's Party ally in Austria's governing coalition, as the two must agree on state asset sales. The government owns 43 percent of the Vienna Airport-based carrier, which has a market value of about 338 million euros (US$524 million) and is the country's biggest airline.
Cologne, Germany-based Lufthansa has hubs in Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich. The route networks of the two firms are a good fit, Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Mayrhuber said in Frankfurt on Monday.
"Nobody can tell me Lufthansa would maintain four regional hubs in such geographic proximity," Matznetter, 49, said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Vienna.
"It would make more sense for the country and the airline to pursue a profitable expansion strategy and remain independent."
The government plans to decide on the airline's future by the end of the year, according to Finance Minister and People's Party head Wilhelm Molterer.
The minister has said that the carrier probably needs to join with a larger partner such as Lufthansa, Europe's second-biggest airline after Air France-KLM Group.