THE TWO-WAY battle for bus and train operator Go-Ahead is set to continue, with spurned Aussie bidder Kelsian saying it was still weighing up its options.

Kelsian, which has until 1 August to make a firm offer, is going up against a £647.7m offer made by an Australian-Spanish consortium which was recommended by the board earlier this year.

The consortium - made up of Australian bus operator Kinetic and Spanish infrastructure group Globalvia - told City A.M. last month it was not afraid of a bidding war with the tour operator.

Kelsian's announcement came on the heels of Go-Ahead's optimistic outlook for 2022.

Passenger growth has beaten expectations as the world recovers more quickly than expected from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We are encouraged to see so many people using buses and trains and we expect a busy summer ahead, particularly in tourist areas," said chief executive Christian Schreyer.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper