EasyJet Confirms €40m Deal for Parts of Air Berlin

EasyJet  said it will ink a 40 million euro deal to purchase a part of German carrier Air Berlin, which filed insolvency in August.

More specifically, EasyJet will buy a share of the insolvent carrier’s assets at Berlin Tegel Airport, including landing slots and leases for up to 25 A320 aircraft securing in the meantime 1,000 jobs.

Under the deal, the British low cost carrier will be required to hire 1,000 German pilots and cabin crew. EasyJet said it expects the acquisition procedure to be complete in December after regulatory approvals.

The company said it “looks forward to building on the strong, customer focussed platform it already has in Berlin to fly more passengers, employ more people and support more economic growth” in Germany.

Air Berlin, once Germany’s second-biggest airline with some 8,000 employees, operated its last flight after 38 years last week. Lufthansa also has plans to take over more than half of the Air Berlin fleet plus 3,000 employees, but the agreement is still awaiting competition clearance.

Meanwhile, easyJet’s share price rose by 1.32 percent to 12.89 pounds on the London Stock Exchange when the deal was announced making it one of the best-performing stocks on the FTSE 100 on Monday.

EasyJet said operations out of Tegel airport will be reduced during the winter season but will run full schedule in the summer of 2018.