Lufthansa has appointed Morgan Stanley to advise on the ‘sale or break up of BMI’, according to reports in the Sunday Times.

Lufthansa bought an 80% stake in BMI in July, but is now looking to sell the carrier in a bid to strengthen its finances. In 2010, BMI reported a loss of approximately £100million.

BMI owns 11% of the valuable take-off and landing slots at Heathrow, behind British Airways which has around 42 percent of the slots.

British Airways’ parent company IAG, Virgin Atlantic and Etihad have expressed an interest in acquiring the carrier from rival Lufthansa.

BMI and Lufthansa were recently named as possible airlines under investigation by the OFT for unfair pricing and passing hidden costs onto consumers online. An investigation is underway.