Abu Dhabi, Lufthansa talk airberlin
hamburg — Lufthansa has held talks with the Abu Dhabi government about the future of lossmaking airberlin, its chief executive said on Friday, although debt and other obstacles to a takeover of its smaller rival remain.
Lufthansa chief executive officer Carsten Spohr travelled to Abu Dhabi this week as part of a business delegation accompanying German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Speaking on the sidelines of the group’s annual shareholders meeting in Hamburg on Friday, Spohr said the Abu Dhabi government was aware that airberlin’s debt, costs and anti-trust issues remain obstacles to Lufthansa taking over the rest of the struggling airline.
Airberlin, 29 per cent-owned by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, already leases 38 planes and crews to Lufthansa.
“The debt problem can only be resolved by the government of Abu Dhabi,” Spohr said.
Airberlin is undergoing a deep restructuring. Together with the Lufthansa lease deal and plans to spin off leisure flights into a separate joint venture, its fleet is set to halve to around 75 planes.
When it comes to the anti-trust problems potentially caused by a tie-up of Germany’s two largest carriers, Spohr can expect little obstruction from fellow airline boss Willie Walsh, head of British Airways owner IAG.
the debt problem can only be resolved by the government of abu dhabi Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa
Asked about a possible takeover of airberlin by Lufthansa on Friday, Walsh told analysts he was in favour of consolidation and was less likely than others to make a complaint to competition authorities.
“We will comment in a constructive way,” Walsh said. “We won’t try and create difficulties when it comes to consolidation, because we don’t think that’s a sensible thing to do.”
Ryanair, seeking to expand in Germany, has already raised objections to the Lufthansa and airberlin lease deal.
Investors at the AGM also discussed consolidation.
Ingo Speich of fund manager Union Investment said Lufthansa should not make any acquisitions abroad, referring to struggling Alitalia, and added that taking on any more capacity from airberlin would depend on the conditions. —