Decrying 'stitch-up', Ryanair won't bid for Air Berlin assets

Ryanair will not bid for any assets of insolvent Air Berlin, its CE Michael O’Leary said Wednesday, describing the process as “a stitch-up”. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection this month after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. O’Leary, the head of the Irish budget airline, has complained that the insolvency process was designed to help strengthen leading German airline Lufthansa. “If there was a fair and open process we would get involved but we are not getting involved in this process because it’s a stitch-up,” he told a news conference in Berlin Wednesday, adding Ryanair had not been in contact with anyone from the German government, Air Berlin or the administrator. Taking his argument directly to Berlin, he said Ryanair had asked German and European anti-trust authorities to investigate what he said was a “conspiracy” between Air Berlin, Lufthansa and the German government which would lead to higher prices for consumers. “(The insolvency process) is designed to deliver Air Berlin to Lufthansa sometime in the middle of September before the German election,” he said.<br/>