Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Airberlin—which filed for bankruptcy last week—should be sold by September at the latest, CEO Thomas Winkelmann has told the German daily Bild am Sonntag.

The daily quoted Winkelmann as saying, “Airberlin will not be sold to only one buyer; it will have two or three buyers. Negotiations have been held with more than 10 prospective customers, including several airlines.”

Airberlin’s business units—long-haul, business and leisure flights—are too extensive to sell airberlin to one airline, Winkelmann reportedly told the German daily.

Discussions with Lufthansa on the takeover of a large number of airberlin assets began Aug. 18 and will continue this week. Other carriers showing an interest in airberlin are the UK’s Thomas Cook German subsidiary Condor, UK-based LCC easyJet and German-based leisure carrier TUIfly.

Germany’s second largest carrier filed for insolvency Aug. 15 after Etihad Airways—which has a 29.2% stake in airberlin—withdrew financial support.

Because of insolvency regulations, airberlin said will no longer be able to redeem vouchers or receive passenger claims for damages, delays or flight cancellations.

On Aug. 18, the Austrian government said it will issue a loan to Austria-based airberlin affiliate FlyNiki if necessary, to ensure flight operations in case of insolvency. The German government issued a loan of €150 million ($177 million) to airberlin to ensure flight operations for about three months.

Airberlin announced Friday it will delay its second-quarter results presentation.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

Post by sn26567 »

Air Berlin will receive its bridge loan on schedule, according to the government, as the carrier is still waiting for the promised EUR 150 million.

Meanwhile, Ryanair is not hopeful that its complaint to competition authorities over plans by Lufthansa to take over parts of insolvent Air Berlin will halt the deal.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Air Berlin will shut down double-daily Berlin-Abu Dhabi services by Sept. 17 and Oct. 1. Berlin-Chicago O’Hare services will cease from Sept. 30.

“Airberlin will close Berlin-Los Angeles and Berlin-San Francisco services four weeks earlier than originally planned, now from Oct. 1 onward,” the spokesperson added.

The Dusseldorf-Boston Logan route will also close from Oct. 1, which is earlier than planned.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Lufthansa wants Air Berlin long-haul planes - source

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) aims to take on around a dozen of Air Berlin’s (AB1.DE) 17 long-haul aircraft and their transatlantic routes in a carve-up of the insolvent carrier, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection this month after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses.

At least half a dozen bidders for Air Berlin’s assets are now racing to submit offers by a mid-September deadline, with around 140 leased aircraft and valuable take-off and landing slots in Germany up for grabs.

Lufthansa, which currently does not offer long-haul flights from Berlin, is especially interested in the carrier’s routes to U.S. cities including New York, the source said on Tuesday.

Lufthansa, which has the German government’s backing to take over major parts of Air Berlin, could acquire as many as 90 of its planes, including 38 aircraft it is already leasing from the airline and its leisure unit Niki, another source told Reuters this month.

Such a deal, seen valued in the low hundreds of millions of euros, could see up to 3,000 of Air Berlin’s workers move to Lufthansa, the person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Britain’s easyJet (EZJ.L) and Thomas Cook’s (TCG.L) Condor could split the rest of the fleet between them, media reports have said, with easyJet interested in up to 40 planes and Condor a double-figure number.

Ryanair (RYA.I) CEO Michael O’Leary has meanwhile complained that the Air Berlin insolvency process was a “stitch-up” to help strengthen Lufthansa. He is due to speak to journalists in Berlin on Wednesday.

LEGAL MOVE

Former motor racing driver Niki Lauda has expressed interest in buying back leisure unit Niki, which he founded, and aviation investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl wants all of Air Berlin.

Labour bosses bemoaned that all the bidders were so far focusing on Air Berlin’s aircraft, routes and landing slots and neglecting the 2,800 workers at its maintenance unit and in administration. Air Berlin has a total of 8,000 workers.

In that respect, a takeover by one investor would be better, union leader Christine Behle said on Tuesday, although she added it was more likely that Air Berlin would be carved up.

The carrier is being kept in the air thanks to a 150 million euro ($177 million) government loan, which it has said would last for up to three months.

Rival German airline Germania on Tuesday asked a Berlin court to block the bridge loan until the European Commission had given its go-ahead for such state aid.

Behle said without the bridge loan, passengers would be stranded and jobs endangered.

However, the German economy ministry said the legal move would not stop disbursement of the funds, adding Berlin expected the European Commission to approve the loan. A Commission spokeswoman was also optimistic for an approval.

According to Air Berlin, bidders have until Sept. 15 to submit their offers.

Air Berlin said on Tuesday it was bringing forward by a month to Oct. 1 the planned cancellation of its services from Berlin to Los Angeles and San Francisco and from Duesseldorf to Boston. It will still fly from Berlin to Miami and New York.


source:
REUTERS NEWS
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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quixoticguide wrote: 30 Aug 2017, 12:45 Lufthansa wants Air Berlin long-haul planes - source

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) aims to take on around a dozen of Air Berlin’s (AB1.DE) 17 long-haul aircraft and their transatlantic routes in a carve-up of the insolvent carrier.......

At least half a dozen bidders for Air Berlin’s assets are now racing to submit offers by a mid-September deadline, with around 140 leased aircraft and valuable take-off and landing slots in Germany up for grabs.....
Who has the authority to allocate these leased airraft? Air Berlin or the leasing companies? Do the lease contracts usually allow subleases? And if Air Berlin disappears, how could they sublease their aircraft?

If the planes must return to the lessor(s), they're up for grabs by anyone, aren't they.
Last edited by convair on 30 Aug 2017, 23:48, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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sn26567 wrote: 29 Aug 2017, 23:24 Air Berlin will receive its bridge loan on schedule, according to the government, as the carrier is still waiting for the promised EUR 150 million.
Germania asked a court to block the German government from providing Air Berlin with a €150 million bridge loan before the European Commission has given its approval.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Air Berlin assets bidders appeared to narrow further when aviation investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl stepped back from the process to search for a partner.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Flight information
Information to the current flight operations

For operational reasons airberlin has had to cancel some flights today. We very much regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers. airberlin will offer those affected by a flight cancellation the best possible alternative travel arrangements.

https://www.airberlin.com/en/site/landi ... mation.php

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

Post by luchtzak »

EU approves Air Berlin's €150 million bridging loan

https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/airberl ... ging-loan/

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Air Berlin reportedly received interest from another German businessman, Utz Claassen, regarding its asset sale.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Quote from that web page: "...Compensation claims can be made subsequently at airberlin.com/complaint. Airberlin will abide by the provisions of the EU’s Flight Delay Compensation Regulation and will accept any valid claims from its passengers..."

Reports in the Dutch travel trade suggest that the liquidators refuse a payout of these EU indemnities.

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Passenger wrote: 05 Sep 2017, 09:40 Reports in the Dutch travel trade suggest that the liquidators refuse a payout of these EU indemnities.
I guess that a part of the €150M bridge loan will be used for that purpose.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

Post by LJ »

sn26567 wrote: 05 Sep 2017, 12:17
Passenger wrote: 05 Sep 2017, 09:40 Reports in the Dutch travel trade suggest that the liquidators refuse a payout of these EU indemnities.
I guess that a part of the €150M bridge loan will be used for that purpose.
Don't count on it. They need the money to stay afloat and I doubt the receivers will "waste" money on paying compensation. Moroever, as the airline will be dissolved anyway why bother paying?

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Air Berlin will terminate all long-haul flights from Berlin. Flights from Berlin Tegel to New York and Miami will now end on 25 September 2017, as will service from Dusseldorf to Orlando.
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

Post by firrech »

Hello,
Could you please help me about my personnal situation?

5 months ago, I booked a NIKI flight (on airberlin website) from Koln-Bonn to Tenerife South for february 2018.
If I understand well, NIKI is not insolvency.
What's happening in the different alternatives?
- if LH buys NIKI. My ticket still available?


Thank you for your help.

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

Post by LJ »

firrech wrote: 08 Sep 2017, 22:48 Hello,
Could you please help me about my personnal situation?

5 months ago, I booked a NIKI flight (on airberlin website) from Koln-Bonn to Tenerife South for february 2018.
If I understand well, NIKI is not insolvency.
What's happening in the different alternatives?
- if LH buys NIKI. My ticket still available?
What will happen with current bookings after any sale is unknown as it depends on what LH (or any other airline) actually buys/takes over and what the new buyer will do. If the ticket is on NIKI stock and a party takes over the airline fully, then it takes over not only the assets, but also the liabilities. This means it must honor your ticket and thus either fly you to Tenerife on your booked flight or provide an alternative if it intends to cancel the route or reschedule the flight outside the timeframe as mentioned in EU regulation (and you don't like that new schedule).

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

Post by sn26567 »

It would really be a pity to see this airline go belly up. Here is an air-to-air picture of their Airbus A330-200 D-ABXB landing at Los Angeles yesterday:

Image
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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

Post by Treeper »

Got this in my mail this morning from Bolero (KBC Securities):
German investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl has made a 500m euro's offer on Air Berlin

Other source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-air- ... SKCN1BH0WQ

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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Air Berlin will cease all Caribbean operations as of September 25th The reason given is that the long haul fleet must be reduced.

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Re: Air Berlin files for insolvency as Etihad pulls funding plug

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sn26567 wrote: 11 Sep 2017, 16:19 It would really be a pity to see this airline go belly up.
LJ wrote: 11 Sep 2017, 17:41 Air Berlin will cease all Caribbean operations as of September 25th The reason given is that the long haul fleet must be reduced.
They screw their passengers. Passengers who had booked such flight, loose their money:

http://www.airberlingroup.com/en/press/ ... t-schedule

airberlin is ending its Caribbean flight schedule from Dusseldorf on 25 September 2017. This brings to an end flights to Curacao (Netherlands Antilles), Cancun (Mexico), Havana and Varadero (Cuba) as well as Punta Cana and Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic) from this date. airberlin kindly asks passengers who booked their flights as part of a package holiday to contact their tour operator for further information. For any tickets bought after the filing for insolvency proceedings on 15th August 2017, we will reimburse the purchase price without charge. Affected passengers are able to submit any additional costs incurred through the website www.airberlin.com/complaint. Tickets that were issued before the filing for insolvency proceedings will not be reimbursed due to insolvency law regulations.

A few days ago, airberlin announced cancellations of a number of individual long-haul flights. These cancellations will also be brought forward to 25 September 2017. This affects connections between Berlin and Abu Dhabi, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as Dusseldorf and Boston. airberlin apologises for any inconvenience caused by the cancellations. Background to today's decision is a reduction of airberlin’s long haul fleet which became necessary due to the current preliminary insolvency proceedings.

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