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Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chief executive of Lufthansa, has dismissed fears that the German airline's plan to purchase a 19 per cent stake in JetBlue Airways, the US low-cost carrier, could disrupt relations with its existing North American partners in the Star alliance - United Airlines, US Airways and Air Canada.
The surprise move, announced last week, was described by many analysts as an "opportunistic" move by Lufthansa to take advantage of the historic low in the JetBlue share price, as well as the weakness of the dollar against the euro.
The injection of about $305 million in fresh equity into JetBlue comes as the US carrier was looking at options to bolster its fin-ances ahead of a looming downturn in the US market and as it presses on with an ambitious expansion of its fleet.
Lufthansa said that only about two per cent of the JetBlue network overlapped with its Star partner airlines.
It accepted that the timing was financially highly advantageous for the deal, but said that it was also a strategic move aimed at overcoming its long-standing weakness in the New York and US east coast markets.
Stephan Gemkow, chief financial officer, said Lufthansa was anxious to generate more traffic to feed its transatlantic services from New York and Boston. He said only about five per cent of its traffic in these markets was represented by transfer passengers, compared with 50-55 per cent at its bigger US rivals Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Continental is the dominant carrier at New York's Newark airport. Alongside JetBlue, Delta is the other large operator at the city's JFK airport.
Mayrhuber said JFK was "a second Heathrow" in terms of its strategic importance at the centre of one of the world's richest aviation markets.
Lufthansa has secured a bridgehead at Heathrow through its 30 per cent stake in BMI British Midland, the airport's second-biggest operator.
Aer Lingus in sight
JetBlue is already working on some elements of a similar deal to feed traffic with Aer Lingus, the Irish carrier.
The Lufthansa deal could change the competitive landscape for Aer Lingus. The airline said it was "optimistic that the partnership remains on track".
JPMorgan, the US investment bank, said that the Lufthansa/JetBlue deal was "about money - JetBlue needs it, Lufthansa has it".
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