May well be, I´d be surprised though if LH was going into this unprepared and without having obtained a quiet nod or two from those that may be in charge already.

After all, LH has been in negotiations with AB for a while already, trying to find an agreement on buying one or another part of the latter. As a part of this, already for a few months, nearly 40 AB aircraft are flying wetlease on LH and OS routes. That EY would pull the plug today was likely not foreseen though: when Ms. Merkel visited the UAE some months ago, she was apparently promised that EY would stand by their commitment at least until November (i. e., after the German elections!).

It may be that a court will see a breach of anti-trust rules here after todays developments, but the opposite can be plausibly argued as well.

Assuming the federal bank guarantee has been granted already earlier this year (it has been requested, but the response did not make it into the news as far as I know) and just been paid out today may well turn todays declaration of bankruptcy a legal formality and explain the mode selected: there has not been a caretaker appointed by the court as would have been the case, was there no money at all left. The company has been allowed to appoint their own manager for the process, which is a sign that the court did not see all lost. And if the company is allowed to attempt to rescue itself, what is to keep it from carving itself up and selling parts of itself to get money and to keep going?

Irrespective of federal bank guarantees, pax will cancel bookings and look elsewhere. AB is on the way out.

Well, that'd be a first for anything connecting the EU and LH.

It's usually the EU that seeks LH's approval before doing anything, not the other way round.

EasyJet and Lufthansa will share Air Berlin
 

A little tidbit I found on the Internet.

EasyJet and Lufthansa will share Air Berlin
BERLIN - As a complete take-over of Air Berlin by Lufthansa is not possible under the cartel law, the British low-cost airline Easyjet will take over parts of the insolvent airline. "In essence, Air Berlin will be destroyed.

Lufthansa and EasyJet will continue the operation, "the newspaper" Welt "(Wednesday issue) quoted as an insider,

depending on the outcome of the anti-trust negotiations, which parts and routes go exactly to the two airlines the EU Commission contacted about it. industry experts are assuming that the Brussels competition authority decides on the future of Air Berlin.

the Easyjet competitor Ryanair is clearly outside in the filleting of Air Berlin. the Irish airline had already afternoon the rescue measures the Federal criticized.

the bankruptcy petition had been arranged "very clear" with the aim that Lufthansa could take over the Air Berlin, said Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely. This would violate all German and EU competition rules. Ryanair appealed to the Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission.

So, if I've got this right, RYR appealed against DLH getting all of BER, so half has been given to EZY. Is that giving the finger to MOL by any chance?

Well, apparently currently negotiations are ongoing with LH and two other parties. The parts of the company will only be sold to companies that will keep most of the workforce under german contracts. Which of course is something ryanair would never agree to.

Easyjet moving into the Airberlin terminal at Tegel would certainly take a bit of pressure off Schönefeld, where the terminal is bursting at the seams. Even Ryanair would probably welcome that, as the date for opening BER recedes ever further into the future. The transport minister seems to be in favour of keeping Tegel open as long as possible, maybe indefinitely. But that would be logical, so its probably not going to happen.

Is this the same Air Berlin that started off in the 1970s with money from a group of Oregon farmers?

air Berlin first time round yes was an american owned carrier operating holiday flights through the corridor like Modern air aeroamerica plus UK carriers Laker Dan air and channel airways did too
as German airlines were not allowed to fly into and out of Berlin until the wall came down


AirBerlin – the start of a success story on 28th April 1979, a Boeing 707 took off from Berlin-Tegel for Palma de Mallorca. This inaugural flight was the start of airberlin’s success story. During the oil crisis of the 1970s, the US pilot, Kim Lundgren, lost his job at Pan American in Europe. Instead of going back to the USA, he realised his dream and set up a charter airline. In 1978, the airline was incorporated in the US state of Oregon under the name “Air Berlin Inc.”.
This was because at that time, before the reunification of Germany, air traffic to and from Berlin was restricted to airlines from the Allied countries. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 brought a new challenge. Kim Lundgren lost his special privileges to Berlin and had to look for German majority shareholders.


1978-1990: American charter airline in West Berlin

Air Berlin's aircraft livery has changed several times. The original Air Berlin USA livery was used on the airline's Boeing 707s and Boeing 737-200s...

The Original Air Berlin USA
Originally registered as Air Berlin USA,the company was founded in 1978 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Lelco, an American agricultural enterprise headquartered in Oregon, to operate charter flights on behalf of German tour operators from Berlin Tegel Airport, mostly to Mediterranean holiday resorts.

The co-founders of Air Berlin USA were:

Kim Lundgren, a former Berlin-based flight engineer of Pan American World Airways;
John MacDonald, a former station manager of United States supplemental and charter airline Saturn Airways at Berlin Tempelhof Airport in the 1960s and subsequent general manager Europe and vice president at the Berlin Tegel Airport base of the former United States supplemental carrier and charter airline Modern Air from 1968 until 1974;
Mort Beyer, Modern Air's executive vice president from 1967 until 1971 as well as the airline's president and vice president of the National Air Carrier Association in 1971 and founder of United States aviation consultancy Avmark
Lelco was the agriculture business of Kim Lundgren's family in the United States.

As a United States airline, Air Berlin was able to access the West Berlin airline market. During the Cold War, Berlin's special political status meant that the air corridors into and out of Tegel Airport could only be used by airlines registered in France, the United Kingdom or the United States. The airline's headquarters were initially at Tegel Airport. Leonard Lundgren was the first chairman.

After the company was issued an airline licence and acquired two Boeing 707 jet airliners previously owned by Trans World Airlines, Air Berlin USA commenced revenue services on 28 April 1979 with a flight from Berlin-Tegel to Palma de Mallorca. Plans were made to start long-haul flights on West Berlin-Brussels-Florida routes,in cooperation with Air Florida (an agreement to that effect had been signed in February 1979).

In 1980, the Air Berlin USA fleet grew to include the Boeing 737-200, when two aircraft of that type were leased from Air Florida. In 1981, Air Berlin USA was continuing to operate scheduled transatlantic Boeing 707 service on a weekly routing of Berlin Tegel Airport - Brussels - Orlando;however, by 1982, the 707s had been phased out, and during most of the 1980s, Air Berlin USA operated only a single 737-200 or (from 1986) a 737-300. In 1990 and 1991, two modern Boeing 737-400s were also placed into service

707-331 plus -123B -321B -331b versions operated

in 1991 the air Berlin as you know today was formed as the USA owned airline no longer had privileges to fly from Berlin -

German reunification led to significant changes to the Berlin aviation market, since German airlines gained access to the city. In 1991, Air Berlin (which had 90 employees at the time) was bought by Joachim Hunold (de), a former sales and marketing director with LTU International, and restructured as Air Berlin GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs KG, a German-registered company.Following an order for ten Boeing 737-800, Air Berlin grew and by 1999, the fleet comprised twelve aircraft. In 2001, Air Berlin became on of the first airlines in the world to have their Boeing 737-800s fitted with blended winglets

n March 2007 after enormous growth, Air Berlin took over famous German leisure airline LTU, gaining access to the long-haul market and becoming the fourth largest airline group in Europe in terms of passenger traffic. This deal led to the introduction of Airbus A330 aircraft into Air Berlin's fleet. The merger of the LTU operations, aircraft and crew was completed on 1 May 2009, when the iconic LTU brand was discontinued.

I wonder why Lufthansa should "take over" AB?

I believe they are interested in aircraft and crews only, possibly some parts of the maintenance in order to expand Eurowings quickly. All the rest is not necessary and thus would be unnecessarily expensive, wouldn't it? And taking over the assets only might avoid any questions related to antitrust law things...

SLOTS. ......

Yes,sure.But they could buy them out for less...
The slots are the only valuable assets AB has...

Will Berlin Brandenburg actually open in the lifetime of anyone reding this thread in 2017?.

The alleged corruption involved in this project would make airport construction in Thailand look squeaky clean in comparison.

BER will not open before 2020. Construction works look like being almost frozen now. No visible progress anymore.

The even bigger problem is that the entire airport concept doesn't seem to fit anymore. They'd need some lowcost airline airport and one with way bigger capacity than BER alone can manage. Without airberlin even more so. I'd dare to say Tegel will have to remain open for some way longer time maybe forever.

RASK €6.97
CASK €8.19

Why?

Oink
 

The Remuneration Committee exercised its discretion to make alterations to the Remuneration Policy in respect of the remuneration package for Mr Winkelmann, on the basis that the circumstances prior to agreeing the remuneration package with Mr Winkelmann were both exceptional and genuinely unforeseen. The Remuneration Committee has balanced the Company’s need to secure Mr Winkelmann’s services at this critical time with a desire to ensure he is not rewarded for failure.


The following terms of Mr Winkelmann’s remuneration package shall form part of the remuneration policy: In order to compensate Mr Winkelmann for disadvantages relating to his pension incurred as a result of joining the Company, the Company granted Mr Winkelmann a one-off payment in the amount of EUR 300,000, payable 1 February 2017.


Mr Winkelmann was granted an annual gross basic salary of EUR 950,000 and a maximum variable payment (as determined by the Remuneration Committee) of EUR 950,000 subject to achievement of certain targets. Mr Winkelmann’s variable compensation will be settled in cash.
Mr Winkelmann is entitled to a one-off fixed minimum bonus of EUR 400,000 his first year in the office, payable 31 January 2018. Such payment will be set off against any other annual bonus paid to Mr Winkelmann in the course of his employment with the Company.


Mr Winkelmann’s service contract has an indefinite term with a notice period of six months for either party to take effect no earlier than 31 January 2019. Where the Company serves ordinary notice to terminate (ordentliche Kündigung) the employment contract which takes effect prior to 31 January 2021, Mr Winkelmann will be entitled to receive a severance payment equal to the total amount of his contractual base salary which would otherwise be payable for the period from the date the termination becomes effective up to 31 January 2021.


Where the Company has terminated the employment contract and there is a dispute between the parties as to the effectiveness of the termination of employment and/or whether Mr Winkelmann has any outstanding claims to remuneration or compensation against the Company, the Company will be required to continue to pay Mr Winkelmann’s contractual entitlements into an escrow account (EUR 400,000 on 31 January 2018; and his monthly salary and benefits) up to a maximum of EUR 4,500,000 (taking into account any other amounts received by Mr Winkelmann in connection with his employment with the Company), unless the parties either reach a settlement agreement or a court of first instance passes a judgment on this matter such that a lesser amount is payable. On reaching any settlement or receiving the court judgment, Mr Winkelmann will become entitled to the relevant amount, if any, from the escrow account

In order to secure the Company’s payment obligations under the service agreement for the period up to 31 January 2021, an irrevocable bank guarantee has been provided in favour of Mr Winkelmann in the amount of up to EUR 4,500,000.

The annual report -

airberlin IR ? 2016

Or google airberlin annual report

This article in German "DER SPIEGEL" tells the story of the by bank guarantee secured remunerition of Mr. Winkelmann. In German only, sorry:

Air-Berlin-Insolvenz: Gehalt von Thomas Winkelmann abgesichert - SPIEGEL ONLINE