Europe’s second-highest court, the Luxemburg-based General Court has backed the original EU rulings which allowed Germany’s Lufthansa and the U.K.’s easyJet to acquire assets of the then defunct German carrier, Air Berlin. Both approvals were challenged by Polish carrier Polskie Linie Lotnicze ‘LOT’.
In 2017 the European Commission gave Lufthansa the green light to buy LGW, the subsidiary airline of Air Berlin, providing it surrendered a number of slots at Dusseldorf Airport. easyJet received permission from the EU for the €40 million (US$46.5 million) deal which secured the low-cost carrier certain Air Berlin operations at Tegel Airport, the leases on approximately 25 Airbus A320 jets, and roughly 1,000 of Air Berlin’s pilots and crew.
“The General Court dismisses the actions of Polskie Linie Lotnicze ‘LOT’ against the Commission decisions authorizing the mergers concerning the acquisition by easyJet and Lufthansa, respectively, of certain assets of the Air Berlin group,” judges stated. LOT can appeal to the EU Court of Justice on points of law.
