German carrier Lufthansa said on January 8 that was not interested in taking a stake in Italian airline Alitalia. A spokesman for the German airline said it had not made a bid for Alitalia, but had put forward a concept for cooperation with the airline group Star Alliance, of which Lufthansa is a member. The spokesman was commenting on media speculation that the German carrier was interested in taking a financial stake in Italys national carrier.

Aviation experts believe that the French-Dutch airline KLM-Air France will now take a stake in Alitalia. The German carrier announced in November that it was launching a new subsidiary in Italy called Lufthansa Italia.

With an initial fleet of six Airbus A319 aircraft, Lufthansa Italia will offer flights from Milans Malpensa airport to major European destinations from February 2009, the company said. Lufthansa already has a subsidiary in Italy called Air Dolomiti and has a code-sharing arrangement with the Italian airline Air One, which operates mainly domestic routes.