German national carrier Lufthansa is in talks to rescue its arch-rival Air Berlin, ,Handelsblatt´ has learned. Europe‘s biggest airline is negotiating with Gulf carrier Etihad, Air Berlin‘s biggest shareholder with a stake of just under 30 percent, to acquire parts of the struggling airline that has been making losses for the past 10 years.
According to Handelblatt Etihad has shored up Air Berlin with credit of several hundred million euros in the past. But Germany‘s second-largest airline has kept on hemorrhaging money because it overreached itself with its ambition to be a premium carrier, budget and charter airline all in one. Lufthansa appears to be interested in taking over all Air Berlin routes that don‘t go via the hubs in Düsseldorf or Berlin, as well as around 40 leased aircraft including their crews.
The planes could join the fleet of Lufthansa‘s budget subsidiary Eurowings. The talks are scheduled to be completed by October at the latest. Up to now the three companies declined to comment.
If the deal happens, Air Berlin chief executive Stefan Pichler could Continue reading “Rescuing the arch-rival?”
