Lufthansa, the national flag carrier of German has agreed to take over 81 aircraft and likely to hire 3000 employees from insolvent Air Berlin.
Germany’s largest airline is set to buy Air Berlin’s Niki leisure unit, its LG Walter regional airline and some additional short-haul aircraft, the source said on Wednesday. The deal is done but however, the contract has not been signed yet.
Lufthansa is expected to sign a deal today, said Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr in an interview with German newspaper Rheinische Post. He also said that it may take up to one year for the company to fully join Air Berlin’s aircraft and its 3000 employees.
81 Air Berlin aircraft will cost 200 million Euros in total for Lufthansa. Lufthansa is also planning to invest additional 1.5 billion more into the airline.
The 37 wet-leased A319 and A320s are already under the Lufthansa. EasyJet, which has a base at Berlin’s Schoenefeld airport, has been discussing acquiring 27 to 30 planes belonging to Air Berlin, but a media report earlier this week states that talks could fail.
However, the detail of agreement is not published yet.
