Several shareholders of International Airlines Group (IAG) have proposed that the airline group work with Ireland's Ryanair on another attempt to purchase Norwegian Air Shuttle.

The proposal by the UK-based shareholders suggests that IAG would maintain the long-haul operations of Norwegian, while Ryanair would pick up the short-haul.

IAG currently holds a 4.6% stake in Norwegian, with two bids for the remaining stake recently rejected by Norwegian.

Norwegian is open to a deal at the right price, according to its CEO, Bjorn Kjos.