Lufthansa, EasyJet Get Inside Track on Buying Air Berlin Assets
- Airlines exclusive partners for further talks through Oct. 12
- Some of Air Berlin’s assets may also go to other bidders
A passenger aircraft, operated by Air Berlin Plc, sits on the tarmac at Tegel airport in Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017. Air Berlin filed for insolvency after leading shareholder Etihad Airways PJSC withdrew its financial support, marking the second failure of a major European airline in four months after the Persian Gulf carrier pulled the plug on funding Italy’s Alitalia SpA in May.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergDeutsche Lufthansa AG and EasyJet Plc were selected as the preferred bidders for the main assets of insolvent Air Berlin Plc, handing both airlines a rare chance to rapidly expand in Europe’s biggest economy.
The creditors’ committee will continue talks with the two carriers until Oct. 12 with the aim of selling Air Berlin’s transport assets, the company said in a statement late Thursday. Talks with bidders interested in other assets will continue in parallel, Air Berlin said. Neither Lufthansa nor EasyJet had bid for the whole company, making a break-up inevitable.