It is being reported that Dubai-based airline Emirates is considering a takeover of Abu Dhabi's Etihad.
This would create the world's biggest carrier by passenger traffic.
Etihad Airways - which flies to 100 global destinations - carried 18.6 million passengers in 2017.
While Emirates covers 157 destinations on six continents and carried 58.5 million passengers in 2017/2018.
The talks, which Bloomberg reports are at a preliminary stage, would see Emirates acquire the main airline business of Etihad, which would keep its maintenance arm.
According to several people familiar with the matter, the negotiations could yet fall through.
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Emirates reported a profit of AED 2.8bn (€649m) for 2017, 124% better than the previous year.
It also added nine new aircraft to its fleet.
In 2017, Ethiad increased revenues from core operations by 1.9% to US$6.1bn (€5.19bn) - an increase on 2016's US$5.9bn (€5.0bn) - while it reduced losses by US$432m (€367m) to US$1.52bn (€1.29bn).
However, Etihad has been shrinking its operations following a number of failed alliance strategies.
Air Berlin collapsed last year, while Italy's Alitalia filed for bankruptcy protection.
Both Etihad and Emirates fly to and from Dublin.
Aer Lingus is also a codeshare partner of Etihad Airways.
