All Air Berlin flights will be grounded by the end of October

Air Berlin (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)

The bankrupt German airline, Air Berlin, is to put all its aircraft on the ground by the end of October, the company reportedon Monday.

 

Flying with the company would, ‘as far as we know, no longer be possible after the 28th of October’ because of liquidity problems, wrote Air Berlin chief executive, Thomas Winkelmann, in a letter to his employees.

The company declared bankruptcy in August after losing the investment of its largest shareholder, Etihad Airways.

However, the airline are flying now as a result of an emergency loan from the German authorities.

The subsidiaries, Niki, in Austria, and LGW, in Germany, are not bankrupt, and will continue to fly after the 28th of October.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa, and the British airline, EasyJet, are negotiating buying parts of the bankrupt company. The negotiations will end on Thursday, but rely on a green light from the European Competition Authority, a process that could take several months.

‘We will know more in a couple of days, when it comes to a possible agreement,’ said Winkelmann, adding that the negotiations have been ‘intense’.

 

Source: NRK / Norway Today