Condor interested in Air Berlin assets

Thomas Cook’s German leisure airline, Condor, was interested in taking on a number of planes from insolvent Air Berlin, a source familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday.

The leisure airline was “in the process of preparing a concrete offer”. The source said that Condor was interested mainly in short-haul routes.

Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest carrier, filed for insolvency last week after major shareholder Etihad pulled the plug on funding.

The race is on for interested parties to agree on a deal for parts of its business including planes and crew, which would also bring access to take-off and landing slots at airports such as Duesseldorf, Berlin Tegel, Munich and Hamburg.

German flagship carrier Lufthansa, which was first to talk with Air Berlin, said on Wednesday that it had presented a term-sheet to the insolvent carrier, setting out its interest in taking over parts of the Air Berlin group.

A source had said Lufthansa was interested in Austrianbased Niki, which flies routes to tourist destinations from Germany and Austria, plus other parts of the business.

Air Berlin’s planes are being kept in the air, thanks to a €150m government loan.

But if the money runs out and Air Berlin is grounded, the slots go into a pool, where they will be divided up among airlines.

It would be a process that industry experts said would play more into the hands of Ryanair and easyJet.

A DEAL WOULD BRING ACCESS TO TAKE-OFF AND LANDING SLOTS AT AIRPORTS SUCH AS DUESSELDORF, BERLIN TEGEL AND HAMBURG

Thomas Cook repeated an earlier statement that it stood ready to play an “active role”. Its interest in a “double-digit” number of planes was first reported by Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

EasyJet is also interested in up to 40 planes, with slots in Berlin and Hamburg, Handelsblatt reported. The British budget carrier declined to comment.

Ryanair has also said it would be interested in a bid for the whole of Air Berlin, as has German aviation investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl.

Woehrl said on Thursday that he had been invited to talks with Air Berlin next week. /