Air Berlin files for bankruptcy

[whatmeworry]

Air Berlin in restructuring talks

I am surprised this hasn't been mentioned before, but Air Berlin is in financial strife. It and Etihad are in talks with TUI to try to save the airline.

TUI is studying whether to take a majority stake or even full ownership of the proposed leisure airline — which was intended to combine assets from Air Berlin’s Niki and TUI’s TUIfly.
However, TUI’s reluctance to add German capacity stands in the way of a deal, said one of the sources.
The original project, which collapsed a month ago when Abu Dhabi-based Etihad pulled out, was aimed at letting German tour operator TUI revive its unprofitable TUIfly airline while allowing loss-burdened Air Berlin to offload its Niki leisure brand.
TUI and Etihad, Air Berlin’s biggest investor, would have each held about one-quarter of the venture, with just over 50% owned by the Niki Privatstiftung foundation in Austria. Combining TUIfly and Niki would have created a 60-plane fleet.

TUI in new Air Berlin plan | Irish Examiner

 

[Mattg]

Another Etihad investment is going broke! This time Air Berlin - a partner of both Qantas and Virgin Australia - has filed for bankruptcy.

It looks like flights will continue to operate as scheduled for now.

Just yesterday Air Berlin was spruiking the success of its new European Business class...

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/58718-air-berlin-files-for-bankruptcy-operations-to-continue

[h=3]Air Berlin files for bankruptcy, operations to continue[/h]
Air Berlin (AB, Berlin Tegel) has announced it has filed for bankruptcy with the district court of Berlin Charlottenburg. It has requested the begin insolvency proceedings under self-administration to continue with its already initiated restructuring efforts.

According to the ailing German carrier, the German federal government, Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l) and other partners are assisting Air Berlin in its restructuring efforts with the government providing a bridge loan allowing it to continue flight operations for the time being.

...
Air Berlin has reiterated that all flights operated by itself and its Niki (HG, Vienna) unit will continue as planned with all bookings still valid.

 

[Bundy Bear]

The affected airline Air Berlin is insolvent. However, the flight operations are to be continued for the time being.

One friend suggested that the airline was given enough money to last until the end of the German school holidays.

If you have miles in Air Berlin; go and burn them now on another oneworld airline, they will be worthless by days end.

 

[docjames]

Forward bookings will now virtually cease. Plausible a short extension from government to prevent chaos but likely to have a limited timeframe attached to it.

Agree, burn any miles asap!

Shame, my one and only Air Berlin flight was quite good. Reminded me of Virgin Blue.

 

[Melburnian1]

Etihad-owned Air Berlin files for bankruptcy

The German Government will loan it 150 million Euros so 'for the time being' - this may mean a short time - it can 'continue flying.' There was mention of 'returning holidaymakers.'

Major shareholder Etihad pulled funding.

One wonders (notwithstanding VA's current cash position) whether with VA's "interesting" multiple shareholders that include Etihad whether in a future year VA will find itself in a similar position? Overall, VA isn't exactly good at making money or generating an acceptable return on employed capital.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Watching with a personal interest.
Have a return from TXL-ORD next month and will need to explore other options to get to ORD

 

[Melburnian1]

Watching with a personal interest.
Have a return from TXL-ORD next month and will need to explore other options to get to ORD

Your Royal Highness, do most travel insurance policies exclude cover for cancelled flights should an airline 'go under?'

I realise YOU have your own personal carrier: a luxurious business jet though.

 

[ADLhighflyer]

Watching with interest as well - have a TXL-MUC flight booked for December :shock:

 

[Mattg]

If you have miles in Air Berlin; go and burn them now on another oneworld airline, they will be worthless by days end.

I just checked and have a grand total of 700 miles in my topbonus account.

Not nearly enough to book a flight, so I thought I'd donate them to charity via the topbonus Shop. But no - the website won't even let me do that due to a "system error" :-|

 

[Oubline]

I'm midway through a 280k Oneworld J award booked with Qantas points right now, and next flight is on AirBerlin in two weeks. I'm a bit worried about this so watching carefully now too!

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Ouch: Airberlin Files For Insolvency - One Mile at a Time

If you’re scheduled to fly airberlin in the coming days or weeks, I wouldn’t be too worried. Their current loan is expected to last them about three months. Meanwhile if you’re flying them further out than that, well, I guess we’ll have to see what happens.

 

[Mattg]

Surely declaring insolvency is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

If Airberlin are to survive, they'll need lots of people to book flights with them. But people are unlikely to continue flying AB if they're concerned they'll lose their tickets.

I note that the CEO has publicly stated that the airline will continue flying and that all current bookings remain valid. We'll have to wait and see how long this remains the case.

 

[BacchusMarsh]

Japan Airlines went bankrupt in 2010 and is doing OK today. There are ways to navigate out of financial difficulty, and declaring insolvency can be part of the process.

 

[Mattg]

German media is currently reporting that the Airberlin hotline is not accepting redemption bookings for flights on AB partner airlines.

The topbonus Shop website is also down...



I hope for the sake of people with much larger Topbonus balances than mine that this is only a temporary measure. One article did note that Topbonus is a different company to Airberlin, is 70% owned by Etihad and not insolvent.

 

[fairbasa]

Can't say I'm really that surprised.

I could never figure out what AB wanted to be. They're like a more extreme version of VA.

They had a decent international business class but operated like a LCC within Europe...yet belonged to oneworld? It also seemed like the operated fairly odd routes (DUS-VRA?) with infrequent schedules.

 

[Radio8tiv]

How proactive do I need to be now, I have two flights as part of 280k award in late Nov HEL-TXL-JFK, should I change it all now and cop the fees, or is there a fairly large chance that the flights will be honoured.

 

[fairbasa]

I doubt anyone is going to be able to give you a definitive answer. It's 3 months out which is roughly when their loan supposedly will be burned through. It really depends on your risk appetite.

Me personally, I'd be changing. You could ask QF to waive the fee out of good will.

 

[defurax]

Re: Air Berlin in restructuring talks

Well, AB filed for bankruptcy yesterday. Apparently the German government agreed to an emergency loan of 150M that should keep AB flying until November.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...for-insolvency-after-etihad-withdraws-support

I have 3 AB flights in October, but I don't think I'll book flights with them anymore...

 

[samh004]

Re: Air Berlin in restructuring talks

Having flown them and not been left impressed, I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing.

Certainly seems like oneworld has found yet another carrier that's not going to go the distance.

 

[marki]

Re: Air Berlin in restructuring talks

Well, AB filed for bankruptcy yesterday. Apparently the German government agreed to an emergency loan of 150M that should keep AB flying until November.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...for-insolvency-after-etihad-withdraws-support

I have 3 AB flights in October, but I don't think I'll book flights with them anymore...

I flew AB this year ..... no SC or points despite holding a business ( discount fare) spartan airline and not cheap like
like Berlin - Krakow