EU: Lufthansa must offer EU concessions to seal Air Berlin deal

Lufthansa must offer significant concessions to win Brussels’ early approval of its Air Berlin purchase, a deal that regulators fear is likely to hurt competition and increase prices.

In October, the German group agreed to buy half of Air Berlin’s assets for an estimated €210 million (US$249.9 million). The assets include Niki, Air Berlin’s Austrian holiday airline, its regional carrier LGW, and 20 airplanes.

The deal would create high market share and even monopolies on some routes, said Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s competition commissioner in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in October.

EU regulators are concerned that the move will increase prices and cut consumer choice. German airline ticket prices have risen significantly since Air Berlin was forced into insolvency in August, according to the German Business Travel Association.

To win permission for the deal, Lufthansa will probably need to sell some routes, and possibly even all of Niki, according to two people familiar with the case. It must provide clear-cut solutions to all the commission’s concerns if it hopes to gain approval this year, according to those people. Lufthansa has until midnight on Thursday to make its offer to Ms Vestager.

Full Content: Business Travel News

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