JOC Staff | Dec 07, 2012 9:56PM EST
The Luxembourg government said it will buy back Qatar Airways 35 percent stake in Cargolux and is negotiating with potential investors for the world’s 10th-largest cargo airline.
The move comes three weeks after Qatar Airways announced it was severing ties with the Luxembourg-based all-cargo carrier following a dispute over its direction.
The Luxembourg government, which indirectly owns 65 percent of Cargolux, wants to reach agreement with a strategic partner by next summer.
The government confirmed China’s HNA transport and logistics group is a potential investor and said other companies have expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in Cargolux.
HNA, which owns Hainan Airlines, bought a minority stake in Turkey’s myCargoAirlines in 2011, and is known to be interested in expanding its presence in the European air freight market,
Russia’s Volga-Dnepr group, owner of the fast-growing scheduled cargo airline AirBridgeCargo, also is reportedly interested interested in investing in Cargolux.
Qatar Airways acquired its Cargolux stake in 2011 as part of a plan to become one of the world’s largest air cargo operators by 2015.
Cargolux unions had voiced fears the Persian Gulf airline planned to raise its stake to more than 50 percent during a planned capital injection into financially troubled Cargolux in January.
