London: Indigo Partners and Lufthansa are among the likely bidders for Thomas Cook's airline business, with a deadline of May 7 set for expressions of interest, sources said.
The heavily indebted British travel group put its profitable airline business up for sale in February after profit warnings in 2018 left it needing to raise cash.
Thomas Cook's airlines business consists of Germany's Condor, as well as British, Scandinavian and Spanish operations.
A sale, in whole or in part, would enable the world's oldest tour operator to pay down debt and invest more in its own hotels and improve its online sales in a bid to differentiate its offering from rivals.
A source familiar with the discussions said that Indigo and Germany's Lufthansa were most interested in the business.
British Airways owner IAG should not be ruled out and easyJet has engaged in talks but is seen as less interested, the source added.
It is not clear whether Ireland's Ryanair would bid.
Another source said that private equity groups KKR and Apollo might also look at taking over the whole of Thomas Cook.
Thomas Cook, Indigo, IAG, easyJet and Ryanair declined to comment. Lufthansa had no immediate comment.
The airlines business provides access to valuable European slots linking Britain and Germany to key holiday destinations. However, analysts at RBC Capital Markets said the airline fleet was ageing and some of the slots had limited value.
02/05/19 Times Now News
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The heavily indebted British travel group put its profitable airline business up for sale in February after profit warnings in 2018 left it needing to raise cash.
Thomas Cook's airlines business consists of Germany's Condor, as well as British, Scandinavian and Spanish operations.
A sale, in whole or in part, would enable the world's oldest tour operator to pay down debt and invest more in its own hotels and improve its online sales in a bid to differentiate its offering from rivals.
A source familiar with the discussions said that Indigo and Germany's Lufthansa were most interested in the business.
British Airways owner IAG should not be ruled out and easyJet has engaged in talks but is seen as less interested, the source added.
It is not clear whether Ireland's Ryanair would bid.
Another source said that private equity groups KKR and Apollo might also look at taking over the whole of Thomas Cook.
Thomas Cook, Indigo, IAG, easyJet and Ryanair declined to comment. Lufthansa had no immediate comment.
The airlines business provides access to valuable European slots linking Britain and Germany to key holiday destinations. However, analysts at RBC Capital Markets said the airline fleet was ageing and some of the slots had limited value.
02/05/19 Times Now News
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