Lufthansa withdraws offer after bankruptcy of Air-Berlin subsidiary Niki
Around 1,000 people are at risk of losing their jobs and thousands of passengers may lose their flights after Air Berlin applied to the German court for its subsidiary, Niki, to be declared bancrupt. The application was made after Lufthansa withdrew its offer on Wednesday for the daughter company of the airline.
Niki is a former Austrian airline, and the government in Vienna has offered immediate reassurance that it will repatriate all passengers if they find themselves stranded.
With the help of a bridging loan which ran into tens of millions of Euros, Lufthansa would have attempted to kept Niki going. However, this plan has now become obsolete.
Lufthansa said that the reason for the withdrawal of its offer was that it did not expect a quick approval of the purchase by the EU commission. The purchase contract, which closed in October, cannot be followed through now.
Following the withdrawal of Lufthansa, Air Berlin said they would look for alternatives to make money with the still-flying Niki.
Lufthansa's move has consequences for the German government since the government had guaranteed a loan by the KfW Bankengruppe to Air Berlin which now possibly cannot be paid back in full. The German federal government had guaranteed 150 million Euros for the deal.
Niki Lauda interested
The former formula one world champion and businessman, Niki Lauda, is still interested in the airline which he once founded. This was still the case «of course,» Mr Lauda told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
The Air Berlin subsidiary would however be in need of a new start within the insolvency proceedings. Asked how much money he would pay for Niki, Mr Lauda said: «The price to pay for an airline in insolvency is lower than for an airline which is still flying.»
Mr Lauda, together with the Thomas Cook subsidiary, Condor, wanted to take over Air Berlin during the insolvency proceedings but lost in a bid against Lufthansa.
Uber to stop «UberPop» in Basel after 1st June 2018
The taxi company «Uber» has withdrawn from running its controversial service in Switzerland next year. After Zurich and Lausanne, «UberPop» will also stop its services in Basel.
Uber will only offer «UberX» from 1st June 2018, according to a press release issued on Wednesday. Until then, «UberPop» will still be available in Basel, a company spokesperson said on request.
«UberPop» is the cheapest and also most disputed driver service provided by the American transport service agent. «UberPop» has already been cancelled in Zurich in August, and in Lausanne in November.
With the limitation of «UberX» services, the company reacts to the «many wishes» of «UberPop»-partners who in Basel want to make money with the Uber app. From Uber's point of view, no economical success can be made with the cheap service.
«UberPop» drivers in Basel now have time to get a licence to run a professional taxi service. The company did not say how many drivers are working for Uber.
The spokesperson said that «UberX», with its licensed drivers, is more sustainable than «UberPop» in the long term. The change in Basel was a further step to a standardised, affordable service available across city borders.
Besides Basel, Zurich, and Lausanne, «UberX» is also available in Geneva where «UberPop» has never been introduced. In Zurich and Geneva, Uber also promotes the limousine-service «UberBlack», and in Zurich «UberGreen» with electric vehicles.
«UberPop» faced harsh criticism by taxi drivers and trade unions since with this service almost every car owner could carry passengers. Since the drivers ran the service without having taxi licenses, several «UberPop» drivers were fined in Zurich and Basel.
The penalty court in Baselland sentenced an «UberPop» driver to a conditional fine and penalty. Within nine months in 2016, the man had earned 32,000 francs from carrying passengers over 16,000 kilometres.
Offspring among the nutrias at the Basel Zoo
Ten swift young animals bustle about the foliage in the nutria compound. Nutrias belong to the secret darlings of the visitors since there is always something happening among the rodents.
Hardly any other animal has so many names and is mixed up with others. In German the nutria or coypu has at least four other names (i.e. Biberratte, Sumpfbiber, Schweifbiber, Schweifratte). Nutrias have been present in the Basel Zoo since 1943. Since then, around 400 animals have been born. Currently, several youngsters run around in the foliage of the newly made compound or bob up and down in the water. It's worth to visit the swift rodents also in winter since they are especially active at daytime.