Lufthansa, the German airline has said it would consider any proposal by the chairman of BMI British Midland to take over the Castle Donington-based business.
Following the scrapping of restrictions on Europe-US flights last month, Lufthansa, which has a 30 per cent stake in BMI, has said it would consider buying Sir Michael Bishop's shares and operate services to America.
Stephen Gemkow, Lufthansa's chief finance officer, is reported to have said that the airline would certainly look at Sir Michael's majority shareholding should he want to sell.
However, Sir Michael, pictured, has said he was not pursuing any deals to sell his controlling stake in BMI.
Sir Michael has an option to sell his stake to the Germans until June 2009 and Lufthansa has a buy option from the end of 2008.
He said he was in close consultation with Lufthansa and United Airlines, his partners in the Star global airline alliance, on his plans to launch BMI transatlantic services from Heathrow from March next year.
The open skies rules will from next March end many of the restrictions on flights to the US. BMI chief executive Nigel Turner hailed last month's decision as "a landmark in the history of air links between Europe and the US".
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