Almost six years after filing for bankruptcy, ceasing all flight operations and many failed attempts to sell the brand the trademark rights of Air Berlin have finally been sold to Marcos Rossello, the founder of German charter carrier Sundair.
Rossello has acquired the trademark rights for a reported purchase price of about €120,190 a lot less than the initial amount that the insolvency administrator was hoping for. Post the acquisition Rossello has the option to revive the airline or completely transform it into a different carrier, but no decision has been made yet.
Air Berlin previously known as ‘Mallorca Shuttle,’ faced financial and competitive pressures that led to a decline in routes and ultimately forced the airline to file for bankruptcy in 2017
Air Berlin was founded in 1978 and started commercial flights in 1979, gradually taking the place of German’s second-largest airline. The airline established a hub in Palma de Mallorca in 1995. But with financial and competitive pressure, the airline gradually shut down many of its routes from Palma de Mallorca airport. Following this, the airline closed it Palma base in December 2015 and stopped all flights to Spain. In August 2017, the airline filed for bankruptcy after continued losses. Later, Air Berlin insolvency process began with the administrator attempting several times to sell the brand. In February 2018, the administrator launched the Air Belin brand along with other trademarks of the airlines, alongside hundreds of internet domains, but there was never any buyer.
The administrator had initially hoped to generate significant income from selling the trademark rights for the benefit of the insolvency estate. But no buyer came forward and later portions of Air Berlin were subsequently sold to Lufthansa and easyJet, and various adjustments were made to the lessor agreements were made, but the brand remained.
As the years went by, the brand value declined, and the airline's trademark rights eventually underwent a bidding process with the requirement that they remain usable for the insolvency administration until all proceedings were completed. With these conditions, there was finally an interested buyer this year after the Air Berlin brand was transferred to Fly AIR41 in mid-June.