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Niki filed for insolvency last month after Germany's Lufthansa <LHAG.DE>
scrapped plans to buy the Austrian unit, grounding the airline's
fleet and stranding thousands of passengers.
Following hurried talks to find a new owner for Niki before it
loses its valuable runway slots, British Airways owner IAG
agreed last Friday to buy the business and make it part of its
low-cost unit Vueling.
But Fairplane, a group representing airline passengers, said on
Tuesday it had filed legal cases to have the insolvency
proceedings for Niki shifted to Austria from Germany, which
could unravel the sale.
Fairplane argues that Niki, which is registered as a company in
Austria, had been profitable but had lost access to bridge
financing when insolvency proceedings were opened in Germany in
December.
A court in Berlin's Charlottenburg must now decide whether to
reverse its Dec. 13 decision opening insolvency proceedings for
Niki or to pass on the case to a higher court, the Berlin
court's statement on Wednesday said.
At the same time, an Austrian court has received a request to
open insolvency proceedings for Niki in Austria, a spokesman for
the Korneuburg court said on Wednesday, adding it would take the
court until next week to assess the matter.
"We have to look at the jurisdiction first because this is a
case currently pending with the Charlottenburg court," the
spokesman said.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich;
Editing by Tom Sims and Georgina Prodhan)
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