MIAT - Mongolian Airlines (OM, Ulaanbaatar) and other Mongolian carriers have expressed a strong interest in setting up a partnership agreement with Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) German chancellor Angela Merkel has said.
"We want to talk to Lufthansa to call their attention to the potential cooperation and maybe there can be an intensification of the cooperation between Lufthansa and Mongolian airlines," Reuters quoted Merkel as saying.
Mongolia's President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj is currently on a working visit to Germany and other European countries to drum up investor support for his country's recovering economy. According to Elbegdorj, the country is looking to develop itself into a regional transport hub.
"Mongolia is pursuing greater connectivity with Europe. Our country can serve as a land and air hub located between Russia and China. We are now building a new airport. Mongolia will be extremely pleased to start-up any joint project in this field with Germany," he said.
MIAT opened the door to possible international cooperation last year when it requested interested parties to submit their own partnership proposals to the carrier. Then, on the back of talks between Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and Elbegdorj in September 2014, MIAT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) in which the Russian carrier pledged its cooperation and support for the Mongolian airline. The extent to which the agreement has been implemented is currently unknown.
