Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt International) and Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) have denied that they are currently in merger talks following Turkish press reports saying Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would have discussed putting the two carriers under “joint management” during a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel. The two Star Alliance members have however confirmed that they are in talks about potentially intensifying their cooperation that already includes joint owned leisure carriers SunExpress (XQ, Antalya) and SunExpress Deutschland (Frankfurt International).