Star Alliance to launch joint aircraft tender-paper = = = = Tuesday July 15, 2:36 PM EDT = FRANKFURT, July 15 (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa (LHAG) and its pa= rtners SAS (SAS), Air Canada and Austrian Airlines (AUAV) are planning a = joint order of small jets in an effort to lower costs, a German newspaper= said on Tuesday. The airlines, members of network Star Alliance, plan a joint tender for 1= 00 fixed orders and 100 buy options for regional jets with up to 100 seat= s to knock down prices, German daily Tagesspiegel said in an article rele= ased on Tuesday evening. Other airlines in the 16-carrier Star Alliance could join the order which= could be worth up to $8 billion at a later date, Tagesspiegel reported. The airlines in Star Alliance fly 300 million passengers a year, making t= he group the largest airline network. A spokesman for Lufthansa declined to be drawn on details but said the ai= rline had already said in May it was considering a joint order. Lufthansa= then did not say how many aircraft it planned to order jointly. Common features like seating plans and cockpit design would make the jets= cheaper to produce, and those savings would be passed on to the airlines= , Lufthansa said in May. = =A92003 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS