Despite a legal challenge that arose this week, International
Airlines Group is poised to acquire Airberlin's Austria-based leisure airline
Niki. IAG in late December announced it was acquiring Niki's assets for 20
million euros and would create a subsidiary for low-cost carrier Vueling. IAG
plans to incorporate the subsidiary as a separately run Austrian company. The
deal nets IAG as many as 15 A320 aircraft and Niki's slot portfolio, which
includes Vienna, Dusseldorf, Munich, Zurich and Palma, Mallorca.
The acquisition faced a legal challenge this week from Fairplane,
an airline passenger rights group, which said the insolvency hearings needed to
be handled by a court in Austria rather than in Germany, where Niki filed for
insolvency in December, according to Reuters. Niki plans to file anew in
Austria by the end of this week.
Lufthansa originally
intended to acquire Niki as part of its takeover of Airberlin's assets but
dropped its plans in December amid competition concerns.