German anti-trust commission chief rejects govt aid for Air Berlin

The head of Germany's anti-trust commission rejected govt aid for troubled airline Air Berlin in an interview in Germany's Die Welt newspaper to be published Wednesday. "We need opportunities in a market economy for new companies to get into the market. If a company does poorly, or its business model doesn't work, then the state should not keep it alive artificially," Achim Wambach told the newspaper. Wambach said a takeover of Air Berlin by Lufthansa would raise competition concerns since they were the primary competitors on many routes, especially to and from Berlin. "If there is only one provider on certain routes, that would naturally have an effect on prices," he said. <br/>