EasyJet confirmed it has received EC approval to acquire part of Air Berlin’s operations at Berlin Tegel Airport. The E40m (US$47m) deal includes leasing former Air Berlin aircraft and acquiring Berlin Tegel landing slots. EasyJet said it will also employ about 1,000 ex-Air Berlin crew members to operate the 25 Airbus A320s it will fly from Tegel. The carrier said the Commission had confirmed that there are no competition concerns relating to the purchase agreement. The Commission in its ruling said the Air Berlin slots EasyJet will acquire at congested German airports, and particularly Berlin, are “unlikely to have a negative effect on passengers.” EasyJet will continue to face strong competition from large carriers such as Lufthansa and Ryanair on routes to and from Berlin. <br/>
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EasyJet plans to further expand its Switzerland operations by basing 2 additional Airbus A320s at Basel/Mulhouse from summer 2018. The move increases EasyJet’s Basel-based aircraft to 11 and destinations from 57 to 63. In 2017, EasyJet transported 13.5m passengers from Switzerland, up from 12.3m in 2016. The carrier operates from Swiss airports Zurich, Geneva and Basel. EasyJet Switzerland/Germany country director Thomas Haagensen said with the new Basel-based A320s “we will transport 500,000 additional passengers [to and from Basel].” New routes from Basel include Athens (Greece), Belgrade (Serbia), Vienna (Austria), Menorca (Spain), Pula (Croatia) and Lamezia (Italy). Also, frequencies on existing routes will be increased. <br/>
In a surprise move, Ryanair has offered to negotiate on union recognition for its European pilot groups. The move is an attempt by Ryanair to head off a series of strikes, with the first, a 4 hour stoppage by its Italy-based pilots scheduled for Friday. The airline said it has written to pilot unions in 6 countries - Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK - offering talks to recognise the unions as the representative body for Ryanair pilots in each of the countries, but with the proviso that they establish committees of Ryanair pilots to deal with Ryanair issues. The airline said it will not engage with pilots who fly for competitor airlines in Ireland or elsewhere. CE Michael O’Leary has been strongly opposed to union recognition, with the airline saying as recently as Tuesday that it would “face down” the Irish pilot union intention to strike. <br/>
Ryanair may bid for assets of Niki, the carrier said Friday, as administrators scramble to find a buyer for the insolvent airline before it loses its valuable runway slots. "Ryanair confirmed today ... that it had contacted the administrators of Niki Luftfahrt in respect of the insolvency process and the potential purchase of remaining Niki assets," the carrier said. Founder and former Formula One champion Niki Lauda as well as tour operator Thomas Cook have also expressed an interest in taking over Niki. The parties are under pressure to agree a deal before Niki loses its take-off and landing rights, its most attractive assets, which works council chief Stefan Tankovits said could happen within about a week. <br/>
Family-owned German logistics firm Zeitfracht is studying the books of Austrian airline Niki with view to buying some of its assets, a spokesman for Zeitfracht said Saturday. Zeitfracht and maintenance group Nayak are jointly interested in some assets, including Niki crews, in order to expand Zeitfracht's newly-bought subsidiary WDL Aviation, the spokesman said. They were also interested in Niki Technik, he said. Zeitfracht and Nayak have already bought Air Berlin's cargo marketing platform Leisure Cargo and maintenance units. Niki's insolvency came after Lufthansa scrapped plans to buy Niki, grounding the airline's fleet and stranding thousands of passengers. Administrators for parent company Air Berlin have since been working to find a new buyer for Niki's assets. <br/>
Eurowings will introduce lie-flat seats in a new business class, BIZclass, on selected long-haul routes in 2018. Eurowings will present the new product at ITB Berlin in early March 2018, which should be in service from April 2018 on an Airbus A340-300 transferred from Lufthansa to Eurowings and operated by Brussels Airlines. BIZclass seating will offer more leg room, improved on board service and a 2 meter-long full-flat bed. Eurowings MD and CCO Oliver Wagner said: “We see routes with higher business demand, for example, to the US from Dusseldorf to New York, Miami or Fort Myers [Florida], a strong request for an additional product. We are starting a very competitive BIZclass race.” <br/>
Darwin Airline has been declared bankrupt, after attempts to resolve its financial problems failed. The Lugano, Switzerland-based carrier had in recent years traded as Etihad Regional until the Abu Dhabi carrier sold its 33.3% shareholding to Luxembourg-based private equity fund 4K Invest in July 2017. The new owners also own Adria Airways. Darwin was to be rebranded as Adria Airways Switzerland for marketing purposes, although the Darwin name would remain legally alive. Nov. 27, Darwin filed for voluntary insolvency, the Swiss equivalent of Chapter 11, after a series of external developments, including the cessation of contracts with Alitalia and the collapse of Airberlin, badly affected its financial situation. Within 24 hours, Swiss aviation regulator FOCA suspended the airline’s operating license. <br/>
Minneapolis/St-Paul-based leisure carrier-turned ULCC Sun Country Airlines will be sold to New York investment firm Apollo Global Management during Q1 of 2018, pending regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, the two companies said Dec 14. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. Sun Country, which flies approximately 2.5m passengers annually from US Midwest cold-weather locales to destinations in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, is the largest privately held fully independent airline in the US, and has been owned by brothers Marty and Mitch Davis of Cambria Holdings since 2011. The airline is managed by CE Jude Bricker, who came on board in July after 11 years at Ultra LCC Allegiant Air and soon instituted ULCC-style fee-heavy reforms at Sun Country. <br/>
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is investigating the crash of a West Wind Aviation ATR 42 regional turboprop shortly after take-off from Fond-du-Lac, Saskatchewan. The aircraft, an ATR 42-320 model had 22 passengers and 3 crew on board and was operating flight WEW282 to another location in the province, Stony Rapids, when it crashed at 18:15 local time Dec 13. The aircraft came down around 1km from Fond-du-Lac. According to the TSB, the aircraft “collided with terrain shortly after take-off,” sustaining “substantial damage.” The TSB added that “A number of passengers and one crew member sustained serious injuries.” According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, no explosion or fire resulted from the impact. <br/>