In a move that should surprise… well… no-one – airberlin has filed for bankruptcy protection.
airberlin Airbus A330 at Chicago O’Hare – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
In a move where Etihad is no longer in a position to provide financial support to the airline, airberlin filed to commence insolvency proceedings , in order to continue with its restructuring process.
Bloomberg has the report on what has happened today in terms of the money side.
The Federal German Government, Lufthansa and other partners are supporting airberlin in its restructuring efforts. The Federal Government is supporting the airline with a bridging loan to maintain flight operations for the short to medium-term.
A bridging loan has been provided by the German Government to the airline- to last through to Mid-November. The airline employs over 8600 people.
The airline released a video stating its current position.
CEO Thomas Winkelmann confirms:
All flights operated by airberlin & NIKI will continue as planned and our flight schedule remains valid! pic.twitter.com/gbR1vSqMg4— airberlin (@airberlin) August 15, 2017
In real terms
- All flights operated by airberlin and NIKI will continue as planned for now
- The Schedule remains as-is
- All bookings remain valid
- Flights can still be booked
The airline notes that it negotiations with Lufthansa and other partners regarding the acquisition of business units of airberlin.
Thomas Winkelmann, CEO of airberlin states:
“We are working tirelessly to achieve the best possible outcome for the company, our customers and employees, given the situation.”
Lufthansa – an interested party in obtaining parts of the airline states:
In order to continue with its restructuring, airberlin has filed a provisional insolvency proceeding in self-administration at the local court of Berlin-Charlottenburg today. Lufthansa is supporting the restructuring efforts of the airline jointly with the German Government.
This also ensures that all aircraft that are currently operated by airberlin under a wet lease agreement for Eurowings and Austrian Airlines will continue operating as before.
Lufthansa is already in negotiations with airberlin to take-over parts of the airberlin Group and is exploring the possibility of hiring additional staff. Lufthansa intends to conclude these negotiations successfully in due time.
airberlin has been an interesting case for a while – beset with different issues that have made life difficult for the airline. A tweet by @airlineflyer sums it up perfectly:
The special liveries of @airberlin tell a sad story:
oneworld – never joined the TATL JV
Etihad – no more investment
BER – never opened pic.twitter.com/KRLj3jKCWj
— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) August 15, 2017
Failing to join or take advantage of a Transatlantic Joint Venture is pretty unforgivable (although who the airline had a major investment from – it’s unsurprising.
Ethiad’s refusing to invest a penny more follows on from its withdrawal from Alitalia and Etihad Regional (and if anyone is saying Etihad has been playing “Hunter version 2”, and have got it just as wrong as SwissAir – I’d agree with you).
And then there’s the omnishambles that is the new Berlin Airport.
Whilst Lufthansa waits to swallow up the remains of airberlin – for now – its business as usual as the airline works out what to do next with itself.
For now, the airline looks a bit like this… and in need of sorting itself out.
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