Air Berlin takes a bigger piece of NIKI

Germany’s leading LCC (and Europe’s third largest) Air Berlin has increased its shareholding in Austria’s NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH to almost 50%, consolidating NIKI within the Air Berlin group while it remains a legally independent company with its own management. A similar arrangement was made for Austrian Airlines (AUA) when it was taken over by Lufthansa but is this a sign of genuine consolidation within the European LCC domain? [1453 words]

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This report contains the following subheadings:

• Largest LCC at Vienna
• Lufthansa takeover of AUA ‘a catastrophe’ – Lauda
• Radical measures

This report contains the following charts and tables:

• Vienna Airport total carrier capacity share
• Air Berlin passenger numbers and passenger load factor: 2007 to 2009
• Air Berlin fleet composition: 2007 vs 2008 vs 2009
• Air Berlin financial highlights for the 12 months ended 31-Dec-2009
• Air Berlin cost growth in 2009