According to its insolvency administrator, air berlin is owed money by more than one million customers and companies. Among them are hundreds of thousands of passengers who are stuck with tickets.
"We expect creditors of well over a million," said insolvency administrator lucas flother on RBB inforadio. "We have not yet managed to capture all believers."
As a result, it has not yet been possible to put a final figure on the liabilities of germany’s second-largest airline. Air berlin filed for insolvency on. Filed for insolvency on august 15, 2017.
Those who booked their flights before that date will probably be left empty-handed, because the claim will be met from the insolvency estate. The proceeds from the sale of the airline must first be used to repay a federal loan of 150 million euros. This so-called mass loan is serviced as a priority.
So far, the sales proceeds have not been sufficient to cover this amount. The federal government has so far been repaid 74.4 million euros, according to a spokeswoman for the federal ministry of economics and technology.
The federal loan had initially kept air berlin in the air last fall and thus made the sale possible. Aircraft as well as take-off and landing rights of the company were secured by lufthansa, easyjet and niki lauda, among others.
It is not yet possible to say what will ultimately be repaid to the federal government, said the ministry spokeswoman. Flother explained: "we will see – the utilization is not yet closed – that further parts of the loan can be repaid in the future."