Troubled carrier bmi has seen losses widen to €154 million during the first nine months of 2011 with owner Lufthansa now weighing its “strategic options” for the carrier. bmi lost €90 million in the period in 2010, but has been hard hit by political turmoil in the Middle East where it has a strong presence.

The Lufthansa Group’s airlines boosted the number of passengers they carried by 8.1 per cent in the first nine months of the year as 80.7 million passengers chose to fly with Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, bmi or Germanwings. The Group increased its capacity by 10.6 per cent and its revenue seat kilometres by 7.9 per cent in the first three quarters of the year. The average passenger load factor per aircraft correspondingly fell by 1.9 percentage points to 77.7 per cent.

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

The first Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental emerged from the paint hangar at Boeing’s Everett factory near Seattle last evening resplendent in the Lufthansa livery.

Portuguese prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho has urged aviation giant Lufthansa to consider purchasing TAP Portugal. TAP is considered a prize assets, having been recognised by the World Travel Awards as the World’s Leading Airline to South America in 2010.

Lufthansa has reported net profits of €301 million for the three months ending June 30th. Earlier this week Lufthansa confirmed an order for 30 A320neo-family aircraft worth $2.8 billion at list prices with manufacturer Airbus.