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Leading airline of Germany, Lufthansa AG has entered into an agreement to acquire 41.65 percent of Austrian Airlines from Austria’s state holding OeIAG. Lufthansa will buy the stakes of Austrian Airlines for the token price of 366,000 euros ($465,000), informed official source. Meanwhile, earlier reports claimed that the German carrier was planning to take over 100 percent of its smaller Austrian rival, first through the privatisation, and then through buying free-floating shares. The debt ridden carrier of Austria has decided to sell its stakes despite fierce protests from unions and opposition parties.
One of the largest carriers of Europe, Lufthansa AG operates its flight services across 209 destinations in 81 countries of the world. It has the sixth-largest passenger airline fleet in the world which operates 531 aircrafts. On the other hand, Vienna-based Austrian Airlines is the prominent carrier of Austria. The airline operates its services to over 130 destinations. Austrian Airlines is tied up with world largest airline alliance, Star Alliance which also includes Lufthansa as founding member. One of reasons of selling the stakes of Austrian Airlines is that the EU (European Union) has approved a 500-million-euro cash injection for restructuring from the Austrian government.
