April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev said his Blue Wings AG airline in Germany is planning to file for bankruptcy after the discount carrier’s flight license was revoked.

“I will probably file for bankruptcy and will try to make a point that it is the German government’s fault,” Lebedev said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “I’ve never expected anything like that to happen.”

Germany’s LBA aviation authority said March 31 that it had terminated Dusseldorf-based Blue Wings’ license, citing unspecified “business problems.” Lebedev said today that the regulator’s move was unfounded. The carrier has canceled 42 flights in the past two weeks, losing about 25 million euros ($33 million), he added.

Blue Wings, founded in 2002, operated 10 single-aisle Airbus SAS A320s on scheduled flights between Germany and Russia and charter routes to Turkish and other Middle Eastern tourist destinations. Lebedev, who bought 48 percent of the airline in 2006 to become its biggest shareholder, planned to add routes throughout the former Soviet Union with 20 new A320s. Lebedev said on April 3 that he’ll cancel the $1 billion plane order.

Lebedev said today that he may apply for permission to import the Blue Wing jets to Russia to expand the fleet of Red Wings, his low-cost carrier in that country.

Cyprus-based Nondwell Investment Ltd. and Blue Wings Chief Executive Officer Jorn Hellwig, who founded the airline, each own 26 percent of the company, which had sales of about 150 million euros last year and revenue growth of 25 percent in January and February, according to Lebedev.

Lebedev, a business and political partner of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, controls about 29 percent of Russia’s state-run OAO Aeroflot, the biggest airline in eastern Europe. He bought London’s Evening Standard newspaper in January.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anastasia Ustinova in Moscow at austinova@bloomberg.net; Ellen Pinchuk in Moscow at epinchuk@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 16, 2009 11:53 EDT