"If we decide that we're not going to proceed we will not hold on to the shares," IAG CEO Willie Walsh said on an analyst call on Friday.

In April, IAG acquired a 4.6 percent stake in Norwegian with a view to starting takeover discussions. Norwegian said in May it had rebuffed two approaches from IAG.

Walsh said earlier on Friday that he was still interested in Norwegian but there were currently no active discussions.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan and Sarah Young; editing by Costas Pitas)