Lufthansa says in negotiations to buy Swiss Air

FRANKFURT - The German airline Lufthansa announced Sunday for the first time that it is in negotiations with Swiss to buy the troubled airline after an earlier failure in 2003.
The two companies were holding "constructive negotiations" about the integration of Swiss into Lufthansa, the two companies said in a joint statement.
The model outlined by the two companies has to be approved by the Lufthansa supervisory board and the board of directors and major share holders of Swiss.
As soon as the necessary agreements are reached, "Lufthansa intends to submit to `free float` shareholders of Swiss an offer corresponding to the average share price over the last few weeks, the statement said.

03/13/2005 19:11 GMT