British Airways (BA) boss Willie Walsh confirmed he is interested in bidding for BMI if new owner Lufthansa decides to sell.
Walsh told Travel Weekly: “The opportunity to look at [buying] BMI comes around once in a lifetime.”
Lufthansa recently completed its takeover of BMI by purchasing the 20% stake held by SAS, having agreed the terms for BMI founder Sir Michael Bishop’s controlling share earlier in the year.
The German carrier has since said it is considering its options with BMI.
Walsh said: “One of the options is to dispose of BMI, and if Lufthansa is going to dispose of it, we would definitely look at it.”
He dismissed a suggestion that a BA takeover of BMI would attract regulatory concern.
Walsh said: “I expect the opportunity will arise. I do not see BMI fitting neatly with Lufthansa’s strategy.”
He added: “Lufthansa has a lot of work to do. BMI clearly has to be restructured – the figures suggest it is losing money and Lufthansa will want to fix that quickly.”