Air Berlin files for Insolvency
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Air Berlin files for Insolvency
https://www.thelocal.de/20170815/air...for-bankruptcy
Difficult time for the staff.
"The reason for this conclusion is that its main shareholder Etihad Airways PJSC has notified Air Berlin PLC of the fact that it will not provide any further financial support to the Air Berlin group,"
Difficult time for the staff.
"The reason for this conclusion is that its main shareholder Etihad Airways PJSC has notified Air Berlin PLC of the fact that it will not provide any further financial support to the Air Berlin group,"
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Slots only? Also the opportunity to fight seems to have value in itself, at least for Ryanair.
Source: corporate.ryanair.com
Ryanair has today (15 Aug) lodged competition complaints with the German Bundeskartellamt and the European Commission regarding the obvious conspiracy playing out in Germany between the German Government, Lufthansa and Air Berlin to carve up Air Berlin’s assets, while excluding major competitors and ignoring both EU competition and State Aid rules.
Given the fact that the German Government is centrally involved in these manoeuvres, the Bundeskartellamt is likely to struggle to get out of bed. On this basis, and bearing in mind the scale of the market shares and the European implications involved, it is all the more important that the European Commission takes immediate and decisive action.
This manufactured insolvency is clearly being set up to allow Lufthansa to take over a debt-free Air Berlin which will be in breach of all known German and EU competition rules.
Now even the German Government is supporting this Lufthansa-led monopoly with €150m of State Aid so that Lufthansa can acquire Air Berlin and drive domestic air fares in Germany even higher than they already are. German customers / visitors will suffer higher air fares to pay for this Lufthansa monopoly.
Given the fact that the German Government is centrally involved in these manoeuvres, the Bundeskartellamt is likely to struggle to get out of bed. On this basis, and bearing in mind the scale of the market shares and the European implications involved, it is all the more important that the European Commission takes immediate and decisive action.
This manufactured insolvency is clearly being set up to allow Lufthansa to take over a debt-free Air Berlin which will be in breach of all known German and EU competition rules.
Now even the German Government is supporting this Lufthansa-led monopoly with €150m of State Aid so that Lufthansa can acquire Air Berlin and drive domestic air fares in Germany even higher than they already are. German customers / visitors will suffer higher air fares to pay for this Lufthansa monopoly.
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How times change! The one organisation not mentioned that has shown a potential interest is IAG. This is Willie Walsh speaking at the IAG 1st half briefing a couple of weeks back: "[There] may be things that are interesting to us [in Air Berlin]," he says, but he stresses that this view is only preliminary and there is "nothing [IAG] is particularly participating in at the moment".
The timing of the insolvency is interesting. Usually banks pull the plug on airlines in October at the end of the summer season. The german government has provided a bridging loan (with preferred status apparently) for three months to give time for an orderly winding down and sale of assets more or less by then. Employees pay is also guaranteed for three months although only up to about five thousand 500 euros a month, if I understand the rules correctly. It is a bit of a question mark what the assets are and what they are worth. The slots, routes and employees will be what other airlines are interested in, ideally for free from Ryanair's perspective, as little as they can get away with paying from the viewpoint of LH and perhaps Easyjet.
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FR certainly has a point about competition rules. I wouldn't be surprised if both of them (EZY or FR) get something out of it - either one of them moving to TXL and getting the AB terminal to themselves, or a decent amount of slots in DUS.
The second point is the future of Niki - I wonder if that could be spun off back into its own business, or if that would be of interest to EZY (thinking about Vienna).
The second point is the future of Niki - I wonder if that could be spun off back into its own business, or if that would be of interest to EZY (thinking about Vienna).
Germany appears to be very reluctant to let some of it's more high profile businesses go under; I'd cite Galeria Kaufhof in that regard, which must have been going on now for 3 or 4 years, and looks as though it's heading for trouble yet again.
If Air Berlin had been a British concern it would have gone a while ago now, as the UK government wouldn't be intervening behind the scenes to try and keep what has been a dysfunctional business going to vigourously.
I'm not saying which of the British or German models is correct, or more desirable, but you've got to agree with Michael O'Leary in so far as the German objective, especially in this election year, appears very much to be trying to push as much of AB as it can into the arms of Lufthansa, at the expense of other airlines, such as IAG or Ryanair.
If Air Berlin had been a British concern it would have gone a while ago now, as the UK government wouldn't be intervening behind the scenes to try and keep what has been a dysfunctional business going to vigourously.
I'm not saying which of the British or German models is correct, or more desirable, but you've got to agree with Michael O'Leary in so far as the German objective, especially in this election year, appears very much to be trying to push as much of AB as it can into the arms of Lufthansa, at the expense of other airlines, such as IAG or Ryanair.
Niki is an interesting one. It was reported to have been sold to Et.had, in return for further much needed cash, which raises some possibly awkward questions about non eu ownership. But now that Easyjet has an austrian AOC, they as well as TUI may very well be interested. Strange that Norwegian have not appeared on the radar given the boost they got from the Sterling insolvency. It is kind of ironic that Airberlin is actually a british PLC, while BA I understand is spanish.
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Niki is an interesting one. It was reported to have been sold to Et.had, in return for further much needed cash, which raises some possibly awkward questions about non eu ownership. But now that Easyjet has an austrian AOC, they as well as TUI may very well be interested.
Etihad own only 25% if Niki, wonder where the $320M has gone in Air Berlin, have they burnt through that so quickly?
Given the new leisure airline idea was not agreed to by TUI it is unclear if any transaction was ever completed. TUI is certainly not in a great position either. They need to find something to do with 14 Boeings from October and potentially are looking at a big writeoff as an unsecured creditor. The incentive to get involved again in the carve up of Airberlin must be big.
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As far as Etihad, they seemed to complete their part of the Niki venture earlier this year.
Etihad exploring options for leisure airline Niki - Gulf Business
Etihad exploring options for leisure airline Niki - Gulf Business
Air Berlin owns 2 subsidiary airlines - Belair (which is due to shut down in October anyway) and LGW which operates Q400s on very short domestic routes. Is LGW also in the bankruptcy filing as well ?
Very sad state of affairs. Once a great airline that I flew lots with (well I got to Silver status on Top Bonus). Now I can't remember the last time I flew with them. All seem to go t*ts up when they took on LTU longhaul. Why don't airlines stick to what they are good at ?
There are conflicting reports of who owns Niki. Another source suggests the ownership is as follows......Vollständiger Anteilshaber der NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH, welche die Flüge ausführt, ist die NL AB Beteiligungs GmbH. Von dieser wiederum gehören 50,2 % der Niki Privatstifung eV. Die restlichen 49,8 % gehören der Air Berlin PLC & Co, Luftverkehrs KG über die Gehuba Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH.
In summary AB it is suggested still owns 49.8% with the rest owned by a trust Niki Privatstiftung. This information may be out of date, but seems plausible. Fact is that various conflicting communications have been made about who owns what. Only insiders at AB really know.
Latest information in the public domain is that LH, Easyjet and Condor are the airlines interested, with some doubts being expressed regarding competition regulations.
In summary AB it is suggested still owns 49.8% with the rest owned by a trust Niki Privatstiftung. This information may be out of date, but seems plausible. Fact is that various conflicting communications have been made about who owns what. Only insiders at AB really know.
Latest information in the public domain is that LH, Easyjet and Condor are the airlines interested, with some doubts being expressed regarding competition regulations.
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Wot you mean like BCal, DanAir and BMI......................wonder who got control of off of these.