Lufthansa To Buy a 19% Stake in JetBlue Airways

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe's second-largest airline, agreed to buy a 19% stake in the American discount carrier Jet-Blue Airways Corp. for $300 million, gaining a partner to help steer American fliers to trans-Atlantic flights.

Lufthansa will pay $7.27 each for 42 million newly issued shares of New York-based JetBlue, or about 16% more than Wednesday's closing price, the airlines said in a statement yesterday. Lufthansa will gain a seat on JetBlue's board.

If Lufthansa wants to fly to American from outside Germany under the new "open skies" treaty, "it would want to have connecting lift beyond Kennedy to other points in the U.S.," a consultant from R.W. Mann & Co., Robert Mann, said. "JetBlue would be a great partner to do that."