Air Berlin said on Monday that four-fifths of its 6,500 employees should have good prospects to continue working with the buyers of its 140 aircraft, as the group struggles to execute an orderly wind-down. The carrier filed for insolvency last month after Etihad, its main shareholder, said it would stop funding the lossmaking company. The decision has thrown the company into disarray; earlier this month 200 of its 1,500 pilots had called in sick at short notice, forcing the group to cancel more than 100 of its 750 daily flights. Air Berlin CE Thomas Winkelmann said Monday that the airline plans to end its long-haul operations on October 15, as leasing firms are recalling its Airbus A330 jets. Some planes have already been returned or are in the process of being returned. Monday marked the final connection between Dusseldorf and Los Angeles, for instance, while some regional flights in Germany will cease after Friday. But Air Berlin said on Monday Lufthansa had offered to buy parts of Niki, the Austrian low-cost airline, as well as LGW, a Dortmund-based regional airline that it had acquired earlier this year. EasyJet offered to buy other parts of the fleet. Negotiations are expected to go until October 12. Winkelmann said that if these offers are finalised, there were good prospects for the group to pay back the €150m bridging loan offered by the federal government to get the airline through the summer. Without that loan, he said at a press conference, “we would have been forced to ground the fleet on the weekend of August 12/13. This would have meant the immediate loss of employment for all employees”. But Winkelmann was optimistic about his staff receiving job offers from the new owners of its aircraft. “We are on the way to giving around 80% of our colleagues a good chance of getting new jobs with the bidders,” he said. The company added that concluding the negotiations “will open up job prospects for several thousand employees.”<br/>
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EasyJet is interested in picking up about 27-30 planes from insolvent Air Berlin (AB1.DE), an administrator for the German airline said Monday. Air Berlin creditors picked Lufthansa and easyJet as their two preferred bidders last week and the Air Berlin board of directors confirmed that choice on Monday. Lufthansa is bidding for leisure unit Niki, regional airline LGW and 13 further A320 planes, administrator Frank Kebekus said. EasyJet is also interested in taking the crews and slots associated with the 27-30 planes, including a large share of Air Berlin’s slots and crews at Berlin Tegel airport, Air Berlin CEO Thomas Winkelmann said. EasyJet currently flies from Schoenefeld airport in Berlin.<br/>
Qatar Airways CE Akbar Al Baker said Monday the carrier plans to expand its fleet, stepping up orders for Boeing aircraft and accepting four Airbus aircraft that it had cancelled in July because of delays due to supplier problems. Al Baker, who spoke at an event in which he formally accepted delivery of Qatar Airways’ first Boeing 747-8 freighter, disclosed plans to acquire the four 777-300 aircraft, which can accommodate up to 396 passengers depending on the seating configuration. In addition, Qatar Airways will order all 60 of the Boeing 737 airplanes for which it signed a letter of intent last year, he said. Al Baker said that all of Qatar’s options and purchase rights for the narrowbody jets “will be exercised.” In June, Qatar Airways confirmed an order for 20 Boeing 737 jets and said at the time it was waiting on next steps in its possible expansions in Italy and India before deciding whether to exercise further options. Al Baker said the plan to take the four Airbus planes “is definite.” He added he will be “concluding an agreement shortly, for which I will be flying to Toulouse from here,” referring to the Airbus site.<br/>
Malaysia Airlines has stressed that its options are open vis-à-vis its future widebody fleet. "We would like to reiterate that as of now, we have a firm order of 25 Boeing 737 aircraft with everything else being optional," says the carrier in a statement dated 21 September. "The options, as well as a variety of other arrangements including the recent memorandum of understanding with Boeing, will allow us to have some flexibility in deciding which aircraft suits our operational environment best." On 12 September, Boeing and Malaysia Airlines announced an agreement that gives the carrier the option of converting eight of its 25 orders for 737 Max 8 aircraft to 787-9s. At the same time, it added purchase rights for an additional eight 737 Max 8s. <br/>