A shake-up of European airlines?

There is potential for significant change amongst the major airlines of Europe and some shake-up in both One World and Star Alliance.

Iberia has confirmed it has opened its books for a sale. Both British Airways (which holds a small ownership stake) and Lufthansa are reportedly interested.

Lufthansa is already involved with a bid for Alitalia.

With US-EU open skies close to passing, interest in buying bmi has naturally increased. Once again, the interested bidders include British Airways (to keep competitors out of Heathrow by holding over half of the slots) and Lufthansa (which already has a 30% ownership stake).

Interesting times.