Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr confirmed that his airline is in contact with Norwegian Air Shuttle regarding a possible takeover, as part of the "new wave of consolidation approaching".

The talks are said to be in preliminary stages, with no deal on the table yet.

Norwegian would fit well into Lufthansa's expanding low-cost unit, Eurowings, according to a source familiar with the contract.

Earlier this year, IAG bought a 4.6% stake in Norwegian, and attempted to buy the remaining stake in the low-cost Scandinavian airline twice, but was rejected.