Turkish Airlines tie-up could give Lufthansa the solution it needs as profits continue to fall

Germany's powerful Chancellor Angela Merkel was not to sit idly by and watch how Lufthansa would be checkmated in the ongoing challenge towards a new world order for the airline industry, so decided to move some of the pawns: bring Europe's largest airline group together with Europe's fastest growing airline, Turkish Airlines. The news must have come as a surprise and while nothing is decided or formally announced, a combination of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines would make the Qatar-oneworld deal and the Etihad-Air France-KLM-airberlin codeshare agreement look like child's play. Moreover, it would keep the "subsidised" Gulf carriers at bay and halter further inroads, at least in central Europe where Lufthansa is the dominant player.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan revealed the talks of a potential Turkish Airlines-Lufthansa partnership in a speech to his ruling AK Party on 03-Nov-2012, saying he had agreed to a proposal by Mrs Merkel to establish joint management of the two carriers.