Lufthansa may wetlease aircraft from airberlin: Bundeskartellamt

Germany's Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) cleared (30-Jan-2017) the wet lease agreement on 38 passenger aircraft between Lufthansa and airberlin. The agreement was proactively notified by the parties according to German merger control rules. airberlin will lease 38 A319 and A320 aircraft, including cockpit and cabin crews, to Lufthansa and its subsidiaries Eurowings and Austrian Airlines. Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt stated: "From a competition perspective, the lease of aircraft from a competitor needs to be assessed differently than the takeover of the competitor itself. The agreement between Lufthansa and Air Berlin does not relate to the routes served by the two air carriers. Lufthansa will not take over any of Air Berlin's slots. Nor will the lease of the aircraft affect the re-allocation of slots that have so far been used by Air Berlin. Naturally, with the additional aircraft Lufthansa will be able to expand its business. However, this potential expansion is not sufficient to justify a prohibition of the agreement." [more - original PR]