Virgin Atlantic is still in the running to buy the loss-making bmi from its owner, Lufthansa.
While the International Airline Group (IAG), which owns BA, has an agreement in principle to buy the UK carrier, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa said today (December 12) that it was still shopping around for the best deal.
The German carrier said it had also signed an agreement with Virgin in November, the Reuters news agency reported.
The Lufthansa spokeswoman said it hoped to reach a decision on the sale in the next few weeks with completion in the first quarter of 2012.
One report said that the Virgin offer was around £50m, about half of what IAG is thought to have bid.
bmi’s operational sides - international services to Europe, the Middle East and Africa; a UK regional network and a low cost unit, bmibaby - all make losses.
But the airline’s attraction is in the 9% of slots it owns at Heathrow Airport.
BA and its partner Iberia own about 45% of the slots at Heathrow, the world’s busiest airport.
Virgin has long argued that one airline or airline group owning a large number of slots at Heathrow was against competition and bad for consumers.
Virgin’s bid could be attractive to Lufthansa if the competition authorities blocked IAG’s takeover of bmi and the German group subsequently wanted a quick sale.
Such a sale would also keep bmi out of the hands of a rival.