On Thursday 21 December last year, the European Commission approved the planned acquisition of Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter GmbH (LGW), a subsidiary of Air Berlin, by the airline Lufthansa, subject to the latter's compliance with a number of commitments to avoid competition distortions.
The transaction follows Air Berlin's decision, in August of last year, to file for bankruptcy, following the withdrawal of financial support from Ethiad (see EUROPE 11854). On 12 October 2017, the two parties concluded an agreement for the sale of the airlines NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH (NIKI) and LGW, both subsidiaries of Air Berlin, as well as several aircraft, staff members and timetable slots, which were transferred to LGW. They notified the planned operation to the Commission on 31 October 2017 (see EUROPE 11907).
Whilst the institution's examination was still in progress, Lufthansa decided not to proceed with the acquisition of NIKI and so the Commission focused solely on the acquisition of LGW and its various assets. It concentrated in particular on the acquisition of additional timetable slots, which could have hindered competition on the passenger air transport market from and to the airports concerned. With the exception of Düsseldorf airport, where it considered that increasing the number of slots would have negative consequences for competition, the Commission did not consider that any competition distortion would result from this transaction in the other airports.
To resolve this barrier to competition at Düsseldorf airport, Lufthansa proposed to limit the transfers of slots at that airport during the summer season to the number of slots used by two aircraft, which would automatically entail only a 1% increase in slots at Düsseldorf.
Subject to full compliance with these commitments, the Commission concluded that the transaction complies with EU rules on mergers. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)