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Lufthansa and easyJet cleared to acquire Air Berlin assets

Lufthansa and easyJet have gained backing from a European court for their acquisitions of insolvent German carrier Air Berlin’s assets four years ago.

German carrier Lufthansa received the EU green light from the European Commission in 2017 to buy Air Berlin’s subsidiary German Airways (LGW) in return for giving up some slots at Duesseldorf airport.

In another deal, UK airline easyJet secured unconditional clearance from the EU competition enforcer for the €40 million ($46.5 million) deal in 2017, which included some of Air Berlin’s operations at Tegel airport, leases for up to 25 A320 aircraft and about 1,000 of Air Berlin’s pilots and cabin crew.

Polish airline LOT later challenged the decisions at the EU General Court in Luxembourg.

Reuters reported that General Court judges today ruled: “The General Court dismisses the actions of Polskie Linie Lotnicze ‘LOT’ against the Commission decisions authorising the mergers concerning the acquisition by easyJet and Lufthansa, respectively, of certain assets of the Air Berlin group.”

The news agency said LOT can appeal to the EU Court of Justice.

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