Remco Steenbergen told reporters that such numbers have been mentioned in the media and that no decisions have been made yet, but added: "I think it is significantly less."

Insiders told Reuters earlier Lufthansa was planning an increase of roughly 3 billion euros, but Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr said lower pension liability had reduced the need of fresh capital in the past months.

The group, which last year received a 9 billion euro ($10.66 billion)lifeline in public funding to stay afloat, has said it planned a capital increase, possibly before the Sept. 26 parliamentary election, so that bail-out money could be returned to taxpayers earlier than originally envisaged, depending on market conditions.

Pressed on the timing of the increase Spohr said: "I have said 'possibly before the parliamentary elections' and the word 'possibly' was there for a reason."

($1 = 0.8445 euros)

(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Writing by Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)