Virgin Atlantic Airways is adamant that it is still in the race to take over UK carrier BMI after making another offer, which Lufthansa wants to discuss next week.
A source close to the negotiations told Flightglobal that Lufthansa responded on Virgin's latest bid within the last 12 hours and wants to talk about it in the coming week.
This would suggest that the previous offer by the UK airline might have been too low, but a spokeswoman for Virgin dismissed the notion.
British Airways parent International Airlines Group had reached a tentative agreement to acquire BMI.
Virgin, which has frequently touted the potential for a tie-up with BMI, insisted there were significant competition concerns with the IAG bid. The spokeswoman said Virgin was still in serious bidding talks with Lufthansa.
Lufthansa could not immediately be reached for comment about the possible discussion.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
