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The European Commission yesterday approved a German bridging loan for Air Berlin that will keep the insolvent airline’s planes flying while it tries to find buyers for its assets, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection in August after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. The government pledged a 150 million euro ($179 million) loan to prevent Air Berlin’s planes from immediately being grounded, which would have stranded holidaymakers abroad and put around 8,000 jobs at risk only weeks before a national election. “The measure will allow for the orderly wind-down of the insolvent airline Air Berlin without unduly distorting competition,” the Commission said in a statement.

German airline Lufthansa aims to take on around a dozen of Air Berlin’s 17 long-haul aircraft in a carve-up of the insolvent carrier, Reuters reported today. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection this month after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. At least half a dozen bidders for Air Berlin’s assets are now racing to submit offers by a mid-September deadline, with around 140 leased aircraft and valuable take-off and landing slots in Germany up for grabs, among other. Lufthansa is especially interested in Air Berlin’s routes to U.S. cities including New York and Washington D.C.

Air Berlin's creditors are meeting today for the first time as bidders jostle for position for the insolvent carrier's assets, although major progress is not expected yet, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, which is being kept in the air thanks to a 150 million euro ($177 million) government loan, has been in talks with parties interested in its assets since last week, when it filed for insolvency after major shareholder, Gulf carrier Etihad, said it would no longer provide funding. Chief Executive Thomas Winkelmann has said that time is of the essence and wants a deal before the end of September. Lufthansa, which was first in line for talks, is interested in taking on dozens of planes and Austrian unit Niki. Thomas Cook, which owns German airline Condor, has expressed interest in the process, while easyJet is also said to be weighing up assets.

Lufthansa has received more German government support in its bid to take over substantial assets of insolvent rival Air Berlin, with German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries saying she would welcome such a move, Reuters reported. "Lufthansa is already an aviation champion — its position can be strengthened further though," she said. However, a spokesman for the ministry later attempted to play down the remarks, saying that it had no preferred bidder. Industry rivals have voiced concerns at the way the insolvency process is being handled. Lufthansa, Germany's top carrier, cannot buy all of Air Berlin because it would give it a dominant position in Germany. But Lufthansa is first in line for talks, ahead of other potential bidders.

Germany's Lufthansa is in talks to buy a majority of insolvent Air Berlin's aircraft, with the backing of Berlin, which is pushing for a national aviation champion, Reuters reported today. Air Berlin, Germany's second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. Berlin granted a bridging loan of 150 million euros ($175.5 million) to allow the airline to keep its planes in the air for three months and secure the jobs of its 7,200 workers in Germany while buyers for its assets are found.

Air Berlin Plc filed for insolvency after leading shareholder Etihad Airways PJSC withdrew its financial support, marking the second failure of a major European airline in four months after the Persian Gulf carrier pulled the plug on funding Italy’s Alitalia SpA in May, Bloomberg News reported today. While Air Berlin said in a statement yesterday that it will continue flying with the help of government loans, the filing puts thousands of German jobs at risk. Deutsche Lufthansa AG said that it may buy parts of its main national rival. Air Berlin has racked up more than 2.7 billion euros ($3.2 billion) of losses in a little over six years and has net debt of 1.2 billion euros. Etihad bought a 29 percent stake in 2012 as part of a plan to feed more passengers through its Abu Dhabi hub by building a network of minority investments, a strategy that it’s now unraveling after itself suffering losses of $1.87 billion in 2016.

A top unsecured creditor of bankrupt Dynamic International Airways LLC is attempting to force the High Point charter airline into liquidating its assets, the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal reported today. Dynamic, which specializes in low-cost international service to the public, filed for chapter 11 protection on July 19. It is not clear how many employees Dynamic has. The bare-bones filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of N.C. came about seven weeks after Dynamic lost a legal fight in U.S. District Court for the Middle District. Since declaring bankruptcy, the airline has continued normal operations through funding from a credit facility. PMC Aviation LLC is owed $1.19 million, representing an arbitration judgment reached in April that Dynamic disputes. Dynamic says that its filing was prompted by recent arbitration judgments against the company that it is challenging under the International Commercial Arbitration Act. PMC claims in its motion for liquidation that Dynamic “is suffering from millions of dollars of continuing losses. ... The debtor has been grossly mismanaged.”

PenAir, one of Alaska's largest regional air carriers with hubs here and in three other states, has filed for chapter 11 protection, the Alaska Dispatch News reported today. In a statement Monday, the company said the bankruptcy proceedings will not affect scheduled flights in Alaska or Boston. The company's hubs in Portland, Oregon, and Denver would begin the process of closing over the next 90 days. The documents show PenAir reporting a $6 million net loss for the 12 months that ended in March. Among the unsecured creditors: The state of Alaska, which is owed more than $1.4 million by PenAir, according to court documents.