Three airlines jostling for Air Berlin assets: CEO

Air Berlin is in talks with three competitors about buying up its assets, the insolvent airline's boss said on Aug. 17, warning that not all jobs would be saved.

"Aside from Lufthansa, we are in contact with two other interested parties from the aviation industry," Air Berlin chief executive Thomas Winkelmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

The negotiations have been going on for weeks, he said, and all three airlines were financially sound and large enough "to offer Air Berlin a secure future" while keeping Germany as an operations hub.

He did not name the other two airlines, but German media have speculated that EasyJet and Thomas Cook subsidiary Condor are the other parties.

Contacted by AFP, Condor said it stood ready to play "an active role" in the restructuring of Air Berlin. EasyJet declined to comment.

Air Berlin filed for insolvency on Aug. 15 after main shareholder Etihad Airways suddenly pulled the plug on years of financial support for the loss-making airline.

In a controversial move, the government stepped in with a 150-million-euro ($170-million) bridging loan to keep Germany's second-largest airline flying for the next three months, saying it did not want to leave holidaymakers stranded.

German flagship carrier Lufthansa is aiming to take over 90 of Air Berlin's 140 planes and operate them under its low-cost Eurowings brand, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported, citing sources close to the talks.

The number includes the 38 aircraft Lufthansa is already leasing from Air Berlin, as well as the roughly 20 planes operated by Austrian subsidiary Niki, the newspaper said, adding that a deal could be sealed "in coming weeks".

Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine,...