Lufthansa: JetBlue Deal's Not About the Money

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Germany's Lufthansa says it's not putting $300 million into JetBlue(JBLU Quote) solely as a financial investment -- it sees strategic value in an alliance with the biggest carrier at New York's Kennedy International.

After all, "Kennedy is a second Heathrow. It shouldn't be undervalued," Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said Friday at a Frankfurt press conference. Yet Kennedy, and in fact, the entire New York international market, is a place where the Star Alliance, which Lufthansa co-founded, is barely represented.

In terms of discussing where the two carriers can find common ground, Mayrhuber went well beyond what JetBlue CEO Dave Barger said Thursday during a conference with analysts. Barger stressed that the deal, in which Lufthansa will acquire 19% of JetBlue if regulators approve, is strictly a financial one, with further possibilities to be discussed later on.

By contrast, Mayrhuber focused on the operational potential. "A financial investment in JetBlue is something interesting, but it wouldn't have been sufficient," he said. "We wanted something of strategic importance for the two companies."

The specifics will be worked out in the future, he said, but he believes JetBlue will make a good partner. "The Lufthansa customer who expects a premium product in the United States won't be disappointed at all," he said. "Customers are impressed by what JetBlue is doing. Otherwise, we wouldn't be investing here."

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