Air Berlin aims to strike deals to sell assets to 2 or more buyers by the end of September, before a govt loan keeping its planes in the air runs out, its CE said. The group is in talks with a total of 3 aviation firms, including Lufthansa, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Thomas Winkelmann as saying Thursday. All three are “reputable in terms of their finances, sufficiently large to offer Air Berlin a secure future and are interested in keeping Germany as a base of operations”, he said. According to Winkelmann, the negotiations also include assets of Air Berlin unit Niki, which Etihad had agreed to buy for E300m (US$354m) earlier this year. Lufthansa has confirmed it is in talks to take over parts of Air Berlin’s business, while a source has said EasyJet was also part of the negotiations. <br/>
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Airline entrepreneur Hans Rudolf Woehrl is interested in insolvent Air Berlin, a spokeswoman for his company INTRO-Verwaltungss said, responding to a media report saying he was planning a bid. She said it was the only way to avoid creating a German monopoly. Lufthansa is the sole major player remaining. German magazine Capital earlier reported that Woehrl was thinking of teaming up with other investors to make a takeover offer for Air Berlin, citing people familiar with the matter. "INTRO already declared its interest years ago to take a majority stake in the Air Berlin group jointly with additional investors. This interest still exists," the spokeswoman said, adding other investors were involved. "We think Air Berlin is meaningful only as a whole, because that is the only way to prevent a monopoly at the expense of passengers in Germany." <br/>
Air Berlin's filing for insolvency after Etihad withdrew its financial support has created an uncertain future. Staff and clients, including Berlin's new BER airport, face an anxious few months. Air Berlin's demise could mean a more uncertain future for the 1,200 employees at the Berlin headquarters and the 700 employees working at the Berlin technology subsidiary. The boss of Germany's services trade union Verdi, Christine Behle, is concerned for the futures of these employees. "Every possible buyer already has an administration," she said, adding that this would also apply to the airline's technology. However, cabin crew will not be immune from the negative effects of a Lufthansa takeover. Lufthansa's Frankfurt base raises the possibility of an enforced relocation for staff from Berlin. <br/>
Cathay isn’t going to embrace the discount-fare revolution. Undaunted by the worst half-year loss in at least 2 decades, declining passenger numbers and cheaper fares, Cathay Pacific’s new CE Rupert Hogg rejected suggestions for a budget carrier with an emphatic no. Instead, he plans to focus on better services such as new lounges in major airports, offering Wi-Fi on board planes, more dining options and self-check-in facilities to nurse the carrier back to financial health. “Broadly speaking, we have no plans to start a low-cost airline,” Hogg said Wednesday. “But we compete with low cost carriers on lots of different routes and clearly we have to have a proposition that price sensitive travellers, new travellers and first time travellers find attractive and prefer to fly on our airline relative to the alternatives.” <br/>
Malaysia's govt has yet to commit to restarting the search for missing flight MH370 but is assessing various proposals for a renewed hunt. The search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER was called off in January after an extensive undersea exploration in the Indian Ocean failed to turn up traces of the aircraft. Newly-published satellite images – captured 15 days after the disappearance – might indicate the possibility of aircraft debris, and oceanic drift modelling has pointed to a potential alternative impact zone. Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman says the new information will be included in its examination of proposals to resume the search. "We remain to be guided as to how this [information] can be used to assist us in identifying the specific location of the aircraft," he adds. <br/>