FlyNiki grounded
The tricky bit is that the aircraft were all leased by Niki (actually originally I believe by Air Berlin) allegedly at pretty hefty rates. The lessors were no doubt happy to sell or lease on to LH. The ball is definitely in LH’s court as far as determining what a market rate for a lease to Lauda or some other competitor might be. It is hard to imagine what incentive LH would have other than to negotiate hard. I think this may be gameover for any purchaser, which is ironic given that Niki was considered quite valuable until a short while ago.
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Or LH could simply walk away, citing problems with EU. Next summer’s slots could still be in play, but existing winter slots must be close to the 20% lose-it.
Not suggesting this likely but LH would be crazy not to consider it.
Not suggesting this likely but LH would be crazy not to consider it.
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Ref Insolvency.
Having just been through it I speak from experience. The secured creditors have the first call on any proceeds from sale of assets ( normally the bank ) if any thing is left after this the employees are paid and then any unsecured creditors ( all the unlucky suppliers) . There is Government scheme that pays up to $2,000 to employees to cover unpaid wages and severence. This in in Canada, not sure what the EU rules are but i would suspect they are similar .
Having just been through it I speak from experience. The secured creditors have the first call on any proceeds from sale of assets ( normally the bank ) if any thing is left after this the employees are paid and then any unsecured creditors ( all the unlucky suppliers) . There is Government scheme that pays up to $2,000 to employees to cover unpaid wages and severence. This in in Canada, not sure what the EU rules are but i would suspect they are similar .
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Thing is, the Niki insolvency is currently handled by a court in berlin, the same that works on the air berlin insolvency. Therefore german and not austrian law applies and german authorities do not pay for employees abroad.
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I guess that doesn't matter, because its a different case. It is handled by the german court because Niki is/was owned by AB and shows up in their financial report, but the employees are employed in Austria, pay social security in Austria so I would say Austrian law applies for this.
Niki Lauda has said, this morning he will be informed formally how many airplanes still belong to NIKI's active inventory. Only after that info he will decide if he is still interested in some take over or not. Any news on that please?
Lufthansa had a brilliant Plan B.
Buy and leaseback the plane in the meanwhile so the slots out of VIE cannot be served with just 2 airplanes, ergo no buyer will be interested in Niki and bid for the slots for free.
Buy and leaseback the plane in the meanwhile so the slots out of VIE cannot be served with just 2 airplanes, ergo no buyer will be interested in Niki and bid for the slots for free.
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There are no unified EU regulations for insolvencies, the national laws apply. In this case Austrian laws, which seem extremely complicated. But there is a national insolvency fund, which for employees will cover the last 6 months salary owed (up to a cap of nearly 10,000 Euro per month) plus any payments in lieu of notice owed as per the employment contract. That is if you're directly employed by the insolvent company...
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More news today ........ https://kurier.at/wirtschaft/weniger...ki/303.181.186
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IAG press release:
INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES GROUP TO BUY NIKI ASSETS
International Airlines Group (IAG) is to buy assets of the Austrian airline NIKI, which was formerly part of the Air Berlin group, for €20 million and provide liquidity to NIKI of up to €16.5 million.
The transaction is being made by a newly formed subsidiary of Vueling which will be incorporated as an Austrian company and run initially as a separate operation. It is subject to customary closing conditions such as the EC competition approval.
The assets include up to 15 A320 family aircraft and an attractive slot portfolio at various airports including Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich, Palma and Zurich.
The new company plans to employ approximately 740 former NIKI employees to run the operation.
Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: “NIKI was the most financially viable part of Air Berlin and its focus on leisure travel means it’s a great fit with Vueling. This deal will enable Vueling to increase its presence in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and provide the region’s consumers with more choice of low cost air travel”.
More details about the new subsidiary’s branding and route network will be provided in due course, when appropriate.
INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES GROUP TO BUY NIKI ASSETS
International Airlines Group (IAG) is to buy assets of the Austrian airline NIKI, which was formerly part of the Air Berlin group, for €20 million and provide liquidity to NIKI of up to €16.5 million.
The transaction is being made by a newly formed subsidiary of Vueling which will be incorporated as an Austrian company and run initially as a separate operation. It is subject to customary closing conditions such as the EC competition approval.
The assets include up to 15 A320 family aircraft and an attractive slot portfolio at various airports including Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich, Palma and Zurich.
The new company plans to employ approximately 740 former NIKI employees to run the operation.
Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said: “NIKI was the most financially viable part of Air Berlin and its focus on leisure travel means it’s a great fit with Vueling. This deal will enable Vueling to increase its presence in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and provide the region’s consumers with more choice of low cost air travel”.
More details about the new subsidiary’s branding and route network will be provided in due course, when appropriate.
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a good buy?
This could turn into a clever bit of business, an entire airline for less than the price of a slot pair at Heathrow.
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Great news
At least for half of the pilots.
As I understand it they had 30 aircraft and IAG gets 15 and all the slots?
Any deal for the rest of the pilots to join any IAG company of choice?
That must be a fair deal , Eh ? Niki Lauda! We do take care of our own!
On and off the Track! Always .
That was what You did when it got a bit crazy back in the old days in the F1 circuit!
Put that in as a clause , I know You can.
Take care of the team, and the Team takes care of You, Niki.
Auf Widersehn
At least for half of the pilots.
As I understand it they had 30 aircraft and IAG gets 15 and all the slots?
Any deal for the rest of the pilots to join any IAG company of choice?
That must be a fair deal , Eh ? Niki Lauda! We do take care of our own!
On and off the Track! Always .
That was what You did when it got a bit crazy back in the old days in the F1 circuit!
Put that in as a clause , I know You can.
Take care of the team, and the Team takes care of You, Niki.
Auf Widersehn
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No, they had 17 aircraft and were planned to go up to 20 aircraft next year. Lots of their pilots already applied to Austrian who desperately need pilots. After all 100% of the Dash fleet and around 3/4 of the AuA A320 fleet are flown by Lufthansa cadets on the right side and those will now rapidly rejoin Lufty which creates something of a glaring hole in AuAs pilot corps.
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Denti
Great
I based my brilliant idea on Wiki and they were wrong about Niki.
Ooops.
Regardless, that is still good news in all the chaos surrounding AB.
Pilots in demand as I understand it.
Can anyone give us some insight on how the Airberlin Monark and Niki pilots are doing with regards to getting jobs.
I was with a small company that went bust in 99 and know of way to many others that has been trough this horrible experience.
It looks that 5 to 10 percent never get a new job or move on to more sane pasture.
As I understand it a few thousand hrs on Airbus , and you are in demand in Europe, is this correct.
I hope so, wish all of them a better New Year.
I based my brilliant idea on Wiki and they were wrong about Niki.
Ooops.
Regardless, that is still good news in all the chaos surrounding AB.
Pilots in demand as I understand it.
Can anyone give us some insight on how the Airberlin Monark and Niki pilots are doing with regards to getting jobs.
I was with a small company that went bust in 99 and know of way to many others that has been trough this horrible experience.
It looks that 5 to 10 percent never get a new job or move on to more sane pasture.
As I understand it a few thousand hrs on Airbus , and you are in demand in Europe, is this correct.
I hope so, wish all of them a better New Year.
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Vueling Austria
¨IAG said Niki would become part of the low-cost carrier Vueling and would be incorporated in Austria, employing 740 of Niki’s 1,000 former employees. Assets include 15 A320 aircraft and slots at airports including Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich, Palma and Zurich.
“Niki was the most financially viable part of Air Berlin, and its focus on leisure travel means it’s a great fit with Vueling,” said IAG’s chief executive, Willie Walsh.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-i...-idUSKBN1EN1NF
“Niki was the most financially viable part of Air Berlin, and its focus on leisure travel means it’s a great fit with Vueling,” said IAG’s chief executive, Willie Walsh.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-i...-idUSKBN1EN1NF
