(Bloomberg) -- Air Berlin Plc needs a swift deal with carriers interested in buying all or part of the insolvent German airline because its prospects look bad, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said.
Zypries said she was surprised by criticism of the German government's EU150 million bridging loan to keep Air Berlin flying, telling a news conference she expects the money to be repaid.
“We hope it goes quickly, as I believe the future prospects are indeed bad, I mean, who is booking Air Berlin at the moment, even if it's possible?” Zypries said in Berlin on Saturday.
She said the government had created good conditions for talks on the airline's future and that there were “enough interested parties,” including Lufthansa, EasyJet, Ryanair and German aviation entrepreneur Hans Rudolf Woehrl.
Air Berlin filed for insolvency on Aug. 15 when main shareholder Etihad Airways PJSC withdrew financial support.
To contact the reporter on this story: James Regan in Berlin at jregan65@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka
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