Lufthansa Explores €1 Billion Sale of Aviation Software Assets
Pecohub Lufthansa is exploring selling some of its software assets in a deal worth close to €1bn as the German airline aims to divest non-core businesses to focus on growing its passenger and cargo operations.
Germany’s largest carrier has tapped bankers to pursue a potential sale of businesses within its Lufthansa Systems division that provide IT services for the aviation industry, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
Airline groups are seeking to cut costs and offload non-core businesses as the industry faces rising expenses in the coming year. Jet fuel prices have doubled since the Iran war, while carriers in Europe will also have rising environmental charges in the coming years because of regulations.
Airlines have also spent tens of billions on new aircraft that will be delivered over the coming decade.
Lufthansa has been offloading non-core units over several years as part of its strategy to focus on passengers, cargo transport and maintenance operations. It sold its catering business in 2023, and offloaded its AirPlus credit card business in 2024 for €450mn.
The airline is also planning major new investments.
Earlier this week it won a bid to buy a large minority stake in Portugal’s TAP airline — a deal that will see it become one of the world’s largest carrier groups. Funding that deal is not dependent on the sale of its software entities, the people stressed.
The software assets under discussion include Lido and NetLine, which offer services such as flight planning and navigation, and operational management including crew management and schedule planning, the people said.
A potential sale could also include the group’s Sirax revenue accounting products, the people said, with a total value of just under €1bn. The sale could be for the entirety of Lufthansa Systems, with the exception of one unit that provides specialist bespoke services to the airline. The people cautioned that discussions remained in early stages and that no decisions had been taken yet.
The businesses generated substantially upwards of €200mn in revenues and roughly €50mn of ebitda, the people added, noting that they were likely to attract interest from private equity buyers. Such assets have proven increasingly attractive to buyout investors in recent years as they search for businesses that have not yet been owned by private equity firms.
Last year, Thoma Bravo agreed a $10.5bn deal to acquire parts of Boeing’s digital aviation unit, including its Jeppesen assets.
Other similar deals include Warburg Pincus’s 2002 investment in the WNS carve-out from British Airways and its 2014 purchase of a majority stake in Mercator, an airline IT solutions provider run by the Emirates Group.
