Air Berlin shelves plan to sell Liesure Cargo

Air Berlin, Europe’s third-largest discount carrier said it has shelved plans to sell its standalone cargo unit - Leisure Cargo - after failing to attract a bid that matched the company’s own valuation and said it is reviewing an order for Boeing’s 787s.

The company intends to hold on to the division after two bidders pulled out and one couldn’t arrange financing, CFO Ulf Huttmeyer told analysts. Air Berlin had been trying since March to unload the unit, which has sales of about 100 million euros a year.

“We slowed down selling Leisure Cargo because we saw that the freight market in the second quarter was not the best,” Huttmeyer said. “It’s showing the first signs of a pickup, but we did not want to entertain any irrational offers here.”