Airberlin over the next few weeks expects to wrap up negotiations
with both Lufthansa and EasyJet to take over parts of its operations.
The carrier, which last month filed
for insolvency, is fielding offers which it said could keep up to 80
percent of its workforce employed. Low-cost carrier EasyJet has submitted an
offer to take over some of its fleet, and Lufthansa has submitted offers for two
of its subsidiaries—regional and feeder carrier Luftverkehrsgesellschaft Walter
and Austrian leisure carrier Niki—as well as for parts of Airberlin.
Lufthansa is banking on those acquisitions as part of its
plan to grow its low-cost carrier Eurowings. On Tuesday, Lufthansa's board approved
plans to invest about €1 billion to acquire as many as 61 aircraft for the
carrier, including the new Airberlin offers. Eurowings already has taken on 20
aircraft under a wet
lease agreement with Airberlin.
Meanwhile,
Airberlin plans to end its long-haul flight operations by Oct. 15. It ended
service between Dusseldorf and Los Angeles this week, and additional
cancellations will follow next month. It also will end service between Munich
and each Hamburg and Cologne/Bonn on Sept. 29.