FRANKFURT — Lufthansa is offering to pay 200 million euros ($239 million) to buy its insolvent smaller rival Air Berlin and is prepared to pay up to 100 million euros to meet operating costs to keep the airline going in the interim, newspaper Bild am Sonntag (BamS) said on Sunday. Citing sources close to the proceedings, the paper said that there could be three months between signing a purchasing contract and implementing the transaction because the German and European competition authorities would first need to vet any deal, BamS said. On filing for insolvency last month the Berlin government promptly granted Air Berlin a 150 million-euro bridging loan to keep the airline flying for three months. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyOn Thursday Air Berlin's creditor committee said it would talk to Lufthansa and Britain's easyJet as possible buyers for the carrier's aviation business, giving three weeks for negotiations.

Source: New York Times September 23, 2017 21:56 UTC