Star Alliance to bid for Thai Airways stake

Star Alliance to bid for Thai Airways stake

SINGAPORE (AP): A consortium of airlines representing Star Alliance would most likely bid for a share of Thai Airways International (H.TAI) once it is privatized, the Singapore Airlines chief executive said Saturday.

At a media briefing with other Star Alliance chief executives Singapore Airlines CEO Cheong Choong Kong said the details were still to be worked out.

"We have not worked out the details yet simply because the details of the Thai Airlines privatization and the offer for sale of shares in Thai International have not been announced," he said.

"Within Star Alliance we have not worked out the details, but it is likely to be a consortium of airlines."

Singapore Airlines said last week it had joined the international airlines grouping.

About 10 percent of Thai Airways International will be open for bidding as the airline looks for a strategic partner.

Singapore Airlines will send a delegation to Thailand Monday, but Cheong tried to play down the meeting's significance.

"Too much is made of this meeting with Thai International," he said. "We have meetings with airlines all the time."

Cheong and his Lufthansa counterpart Karl-Frederich Rausch both discussed the possibility of moving into China eventually.

"We want to have a partner in this huge country," Rausch told reporters. "We'll begin with bilaterals before we go into China." "I'm very optimistic about the airline industry in Asia, particularly in China, it's huge market in terms of potential," SIA's Cheong said.

"We think the rates of growth will be higher in Asia than in any other part of the world because the economies are growing fast and the recession is over."

Besides SIA, Thai Airways, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the other members of the Alliance are United Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Scandinavian Airlines System, Air Canada, Varig Brazilian Airlines, Ansett Australia, Austrian Airlines Group and Air New Zealand.