Germany's largest airline Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, which enjoy a long-term relationship via Star Alliance and its joint venture Sun Express airline, should deepen their existing ties, said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

But it was not immediately clear what Erdogan meant and both companies declined to make specific comment.

Erdogan's call comes at a time when the airline world has seen a flurry of partnerships as carriers band together to counter tough market conditions.

Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa are already joint owners of the SunExpress airline and members of the Star Alliance, one of the global airline networks.

Erdogan said he had agreed to a proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to establish "joint management" of the two carriers.

"During my visit to Germany, Merkel made this proposal: 'let's put Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines under joint management'. I said okay," Erdogan said in a speech to his ruling AK Party.

"This is currently among our projects and God willing we can, and will, take this joint step with Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa," said the premier.

A German government spokesman declined to comment and Turkish officials were not immediately available to clarify. A Turkish Airlines spokesman told Reuters he had not heard of such a development.

"There is nothing concrete that we have been informed of. If a big decision is to be taken here, a management board decision would be necessary. But there is no such thing at the moment," the spokesman said.

Lufthansa spokesman Klaus Walther said Germany's largest airline had a long-term relationship with Turkish Airlines via Star Alliance and joint venture Sun Express.

"We are always in talks about how we can further improve and intensify the cooperation between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines for the benefit of our customers," he said.

But he declined to comment on what form a deeper cooperation could take.

A Turkish Privatisation Administration (OIB) official said last month there had been no decision on the method or size of a privatization of some of the government's 49.12 per cent stake in Turkish Airlines after a newspaper report said the state planned a 30 per cent block sale.

Lufthansa is currently in the middle of a 1.5 billion euro cost cutting program to combat rising fuel costs and increased competition from low cost and Gulf rivals. It has said that the program is needed so it can afford new fuel-efficient planes and that's its focus at present rather than any acquisitions.-TradeArabia News Service