Airline Niki submits insolvency filing in Austria

Airline Niki filed for insolvency in Austria Thursday, in a move to safeguard an agreed sale of the Austrian arm of failed Air Berlin to IAG, its insolvency administrator said. Niki filed for insolvency in Berlin last month, but a Berlin regional court said earlier this week that Niki was not under German jurisdiction. The ruling, which Niki has appealed, has put a question mark over the deal with IAG. Niki's German administrator now aims to safeguard the sale by filing for a secondary insolvency in Austria. Austria's Korneuburg regional court said: "If the court accepts Niki's application, the main proceedings will stay in Germany with Lucas Floether as Niki's administrator." If the court supports a separate claim by Fairplane, a group representing airline passengers, the whole insolvency process would have to start from scratch. <br/>