Airberlin unit’s future uncertain

vienna — Austrian holiday airline Niki’s 850 employees were braced for a bumpy ride as insolvent parent airberlin began talks on Friday to sell off its assets before it runs out of cash.

German flagship carrier Lufthansa was scheduled to be first at the table ahead of other potential bidders, a senior labour union official told Reuters on Thursday amid reports that it was interested in taking over Niki.

However, Niki labour bosses said on Friday that the brand’s future was unclear and it was not known whether the Austrian carrier would be sold separately or as part of a package.

Union representative Peter Stattmann told journalists that all bills at Niki had been paid so far but that the next “litmus test” would be August wages in the two-digit millions of euros, due at the end of the month.

“We were promised [these wages]. We will see if it will happen that way,” Stattmann said after a staff meeting at Vienna Airport.

Lufthansa, which already owns Austrian Airlines, could run into opposition from antitrust regulators if it took over a major portion of airberlin’s assets. Rival Ryanair has already filed a complaint with German and EU competition authorities.

Theodor Thanner, chief of Austria’s BWB competition watchdog, told broadcaster ORF that one condition for Lufthansa buying Niki might be that the merged entity be banned from servicing certain routes where Lufthansa already dominates. —

850 employees of Niki bracing themselves for a bumpy ride ahead