Lufthansa, Air Berlin Lease Deal Approved

Germany’s cartel office, the Bundeskartellamt, has cleared the wet lease of Air Berlin aircraft to Lufthansa.

Under the agreement, Lufthansa will lease a total of 38 Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft from Air Berlin. The planes will be flown by Air Berlin cockpit and cabin crews for Lufthansa and its Eurowings and Austrian Airlines units.

The Bundeskartellamt said the agreement has a term of six years, with an extension period subject to conditions.

“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,” Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt said in a statement.

“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.”

Bundeskartellamt said several competitors of Lufthansa submitted comments in which they opposed the wet lease agreement, but the majority of customers and travel agents did not express any serious competition concerns.