Thomas Cook’s German leisure airline Condor and Lufthansa are interested in a number of planes from the insolvent Air Berlin, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
Air Berlin filed for insolvency last week after major shareholder Etihad pulled the plug on funding.
Interested parties are in the midst of trying to agree a deal for parts of its business, including planes and crew, which would bring access to take-off and landing slots at airports including Duesseldorf, Berlin Tegel, Munich and Hamburg.
Condor, believed to be interested in mainly short-haul routes and some long-haul, is “in the process of preparing a concrete offer”, according to Reuters.
Lufthansa, which was first to talk with Air Berlin, said it hadset out its interest in taking over parts of the Air Berlin group.