Europe

Lufthansa to buy rest of Belgian carrier Brussels Airline

Associated Press
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FILE - In this April 3, 2016 file photo a Brussels Airlines plane takes off at Brussels Airport, in Zaventem, Belgium. Lufthansa says Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016, it will buy the remaining 55 percent stake in Brussels Airline it doesn’t already own, and integrate the Belgian carrier into its Eurowings subsidiary. (AP Photo/Benoit Doppagne, pool, file) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this April 2, 2014 file picture Lufthansa aircraft are parked as Lufthansa pilots went on a three-days-strike in Frankfurt, Germany. Lufthansa says Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016, it will buy the remaining 55 percent stake in Brussels Airline it doesn’t already own, and integrate the Belgian carrier into its Eurowings subsidiary. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, file) (The Associated Press)

Lufthansa says it will buy the remaining 55 percent stake in Brussels Airline it doesn't already own, and integrate the Belgian carrier into its Eurowings subsidiary.

The German airline said Thursday its executive board approved the 2.6 million-euro ($2.8-million) purchase of outstanding shares from SN Airholding Wednesday.

The takeover had been delayed by the March bomb attacks at the Brussels airport that killed 16 people.

Lufthansa says Brussels Airline, which has some 3,500 employees, will be fully integrated into its budget subsidiary Eurowings Group as of 2018.

It will serve 23 long-haul destinations and 79 destinations in Europe, focusing on Belgium and parts of Africa where Brussels Airline is already well established.