Air Berlin suitors dwindle as Ryanair, Woehrl step back

The pool of potential bidders for insolvent Air Berlin’s assets has narrowed with time running out on the auction for Germany’s second-largest airline.Hans Rudolf Woehrl, the aviation entrepreneur who sold various carriers to Air Berlin in the past, said yesterday that he has not taken up the insolvency administrator’s invitation to enter at the data room set up for potential bidders and won’t do so for the time being. That makes an offer unlikely by the September 15 deadline.Woehrl, who was aiming to keep the company intact, said his concept could be best implemented with help of the other bidders, which are generally seeking specific assets rather than an overall rescue. The investor’s cooling interest follows a blunt withdrawal by Ryanair Holdings on Wednesday, with chief executive officer Michael O’Leary declaring the insolvency process “unfair” and designed to strengthen Deutsche Lufthansa.The German flag carrier remains the sole party that has publicly confirmed submitting an offer and remains the clear favourite to assume the biggest chunk the Berlin-based company’s operations. People familiar with the talks have said Lufthansa is interested in operating about half of Air Berlin’s 140-plane fleet to help bulk up the discount Eurowings brand to better compete with Ryanair. Lufthansa’s budget arm has, meanwhile, started hiring some 600 cabin crews and pilots to staff aircraft.Other bidders have been more coy. Thomas Cook Group’s Condor unit has said it stands ready to help, while rival TUI, which leases aircraft to Air Berlin, may assist seeking a home for the crews staffing those planes. Former racecar driver Niki Lauda, who founded Air Berlin’s still-solvent Niki unit, has expressed interest in buying back the leisure carrier. EasyJet is interested in some of Air Berlin’s short-haul assets, which boil down to landing slots at the airports it serves, people familiar with the matter have said.The process has been controversial. In addition to Ryanair’s appeal to European competition watchdogs to reject a sale of Air Berlin assets to Lufthansa, rival Germania is trying to block a bridge loan granted by the German government to prevent a grounding of the airline. A Berlin court has set a hearing in the case for September 15, the same day as the bidding deadline.German tourism body blames aviation regulation for failure of the airlineReuters/BerlinGerman taxes and regulation have allowed foreign airlines to take market share from German carriers and contributed to the failure of Air Berlin, Germany’s tourism trade body said yesterday.Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection this month after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses.“Conditions distorting competition allow foreign competitors to carve out an increasingly large part of passenger volume,” Michael Frenzel, President of the federal association of Germany’s tourism sector, said. The association, which represents travel-related industries including tour operators, hotels and airlines, called on the German government to ease the burden of costs such as Germany’s air travel tax, which was introduced in 2010.At the same time, Frenzel said the association had no interest in a national champion, after Germany’s Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said she would welcome it if Lufthansa took over substantial parts of Air Berlin.“The days of big national carriers are over,” Frenzel said.Tourism generates around €290bn of annual revenues in Germany, accounting for around 3.9% of the economy and providing nearly 3mn jobs, according to the association.