Air Berlin: Berlin entrepreneur wants to rescue insolvent airline

Air Berlin airline has applied for insolvency. The main shareholder, Etihad, does not provide any further financial resources. Now the sale of the airline is being negotiated. The Berlin entrepreneur Alexander Skora, together with international investors, wants to save Air Berlin.

Skora brings not only the capital, but also ideas for a new business concept. The entrepreneur and real estate investor, who was born and grew up in Berlin, wants to lead the airline back to its origins: “I strongly believe that the basic business with which everything started can be reduced. I mean routes like Mallorca and other selected destinations. For the long-haul, I see Lufthansa and easyJet for further European connections. Air Berlin is gradually growing again. ”

Skora has also already thought about the future price model. He thinks that long-time air travelers and fans of Air Berlin are willing to pay more for a ticket to support the airline. With the “Happy Go Lucky Tariff”, travelers could offer a bid for their ticket, which they personally consider to be plausible for the respective travel route.

“If the price for a ticket is too low, the bidder will not be charged. If the offered price is above the respective flexible or variable minimum price, which is not visible to the bidder, he gets his ticket and feels good. Even if someone has then paid more by his bid, it should be a reason for joy. This is how Air Berlin can fly again, “explains Alexander Skora.

With this ticket model, the entrepreneur wants to get away from the old mentality. Air travelers should think about what a flight is worth to their destination. This procedure has already been known to many travelers. More and more airlines offer upgrades of seats through auctions. At best, this is a classic win-win situation. The airline deserves money and the customer is pleased with the award of his bid.

Alexander Skora would also like to work on the construction of further airports in and around Berlin. In his opinion, the capacities of Tegel and Schönefeld, as well as the future large-scale airport BER are far from sufficient to meet the number of visitors and the economic growth of Berlin over the coming decades.

“Every metropolis like London, Paris, New York or Los Angeles has at least four to five airports. Only the Berlin blinds of Rot-Rot-Grün think that an airport alone is sufficient for all requirements, but the increasing number of visitors to Berlin will always be better informed. A hoped-for accident or attack at a single airport and the operation would be paralyzed for days or even weeks, “says the entrepreneur who has earned his pilot’s license in the US.

Like Richard Branson before him, who founded an airline without experience, or Elon Musk, co-founder of electric car manufacturer Tesla, Alexander Skora would like to prove that it is above all entrepreneurs personalities to make “impossible possible”. With air routes within Europe and new ticket models, he wants to bring the insolvent airline Air Berlin back on track.