Ryanair has filed a complaint
with the European Commission, accusing the German government, Air Berlin and
Lufthansa of an "obvious" conspiracy to keep competitors away from
Air Berlin's assets.
Air Berlin filed for the
European Union equivalent of bankruptcy on Tuesday. Germany extended the
carrier a bridge loan of 150 million euros to keep flying in the short term.
A statement issued jointly by
Air Berlin and the German government Tuesday said that negotiations between Air
Berlin and Lufthansa, as well as another unnamed airline, for the sale of Air
Berlin parts is underway.
Reuters, citing an unnamed
source, said Wednesday that the unnamed airline is British carrier EasyJet,
which is the second-largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Ryanair. EasyJet
didn't respond to a Reuters query about the matter.
"This manufactured
insolvency is clearly being set up to allow Lufthansa to take over a debt-free
Air Berlin, which will be in breach of all known German and EU competition
rules," Ryanair said in a statement.
Air Berlin's filing to begin
insolvency proceedings came after losses of 782 million euros in fiscal year
2016 and 447 million euro in fiscal year 2015. The company entered bankruptcy with
nearly 1.2 billion euros in debt. But the immediate cause of the filing was a
decision by Etihad, which owns 29.2% of Air Berlin, to offer no further
financial support. Etihad funded 250 million euros to Air Berlin in April.