Germany's Second-Largest Airline is Closing

Image: PHOTO: An Airberlin jet. (photo via Flickr/Silvio Kelch)
Image: PHOTO: An Airberlin jet. (photo via Flickr/Silvio Kelch)
Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 4:34 PM ET, Mon October 9, 2017

Germany's second-largest airline has announced it will end flights by October 28.

Bloomberg reports Airberlin will cease operations in the coming weeks as the company moves forward with its insolvency. However, subsidiaries Niki and LG Walter will continue to operate flights, according to the Associated Press.

Several weeks of sale negotiations with Lufthansa and easyJet are set to conclude Thursday.

The airline is currently working to secure positions for its 8,600 employees. It will hold a pair of job fairs for employees this week.

According to FOX 17, a newlywed couple in Michigan is among those travelers who have been affected by the airline's bankruptcy.

Kelly Brown and her husband purchased tickets with Airberlin through Expedia for $1,300 in July for an October 13 trip to Europe for their honeymoon. However, Brown said she kept getting an error message when she went to reserve her seats in August, the same month the airline filed for insolvency after its largest shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding.

"They emailed me a week later and said, 'we've canceled all loss-making flights. Please contact your travel agent,'" she told FOX 17.

"Nobody emailed us. Nobody called us. Expedia didn't. Airberlin didn't. We were totally unaware," Brown said. "Usually when something happens on an airline, I feel like you hear about it right away."

Last month, Airberlin was forced to cancel dozens of flights due to a pilot shortage.

[READMORE]READ MORE: Ryanair Extends Flight Cancellations[/READMORE]

In a statement following the bankruptcy filing, Etihad said: "Airberlin's business has deteriorated at an unprecedented rate, preventing it from overcoming significant challenges."

In August, the German government loaned the troubled carrier $176 million to allow it to continue operations amid negotiations.


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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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