Niki hangs on to slots for now as potential bidders line up

Air Berlin’s unit Niki can keep its valuable runway slots while Austria’s Transport Ministry examines its insolvency filing, the airspace regulator said amid growing interest in the carrier from potential bidders. Niki filed for insolvency last week after Lufthansa, which is buying other parts of Air Berlin, scrapped plans to buy Niki, grounding the airline’s fleet and stranding thousands of passengers. Niki’s workers’ council chief said Dec 15 the sale had to be agreed within 7 days as its runway slots, or take-off and landing rights, would be lost after that point. But a spokesman for airspace regulator Austro Control said no such deadline existed and the slots, among Niki’s most attractive assets, would remain untouched for as long as the ministry was looking into the airline’s insolvency filing. <br/>