Air Berlin, Germany’s second largest airline, officially filed for bankruptcy protection on August 15, 2017. The move came after its main shareholder, Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi, stated it would no longer make any financing available for the struggling discount carrier. Etihad had purchased roughly 29% of the airline in December of 2011. The airline consistantly lost money while it carried around 80,000 passengers per day. Air Berlin was able to secure a 150 million euro loan from the German government to continue flying until the end of October 2017.
Lufthansa has emerged as the main winner in the bankruptcy filing, agreeing to purchase more than half of Air Berlin’s assets. The German flag carrier will pay around €210 million to buy 81 of Air Berlin’s planes, as well as agreeing to take on 3,000 of 8,500 employees. Lufthansa will also acquire Air Berlin subsidaries Niki, an Austrian leisure travel airline, and regional airline LG Walter. Reports have stated that the 81 planes being added to Lufthansa’s fleet was the maximum that regulators would allow.
In other Air Berlin news, the pilots of a flight from Miami to Dusseldorf have been suspended. The suspension followed a fly-by of the control tower in Dusseldorf before the plane landed, similar to the stunt pulled by “Maverick” in the Hollywood movie “Top Gun”. Before the flight landed, the Airbus A330 jet flew low across the runway, then banked around sharply to the left before landing on its second approach. Video of the fly-by can be seen in the video link below.