The Austrian Ministry of Transport has extended the validity of Niki (Austria)'s air operator's certificate (AOC) for three months through April 3, 2018, ORF has reported. The decision will allow the airline to keep all its slots until the takeover by IAG International Airlines Group is finalised.

The carrier's AOC was valid only until January 3 due to the fact that Niki filed for bankruptcy in mid-December, after the takeover bid by Lufthansa Group was blocked by the European Commission on anti-competitive grounds. The former Air Berlin (1991) subsidiary subsequently grounded all aircraft on December 14 and suspended all activities.

Although some assets of Niki will eventually be purchased by IAG and it is set to be re-established as an Austrian-based unit of Vueling Airlines, IAG's LCC subsidiary, the process will take time. The Austrian airline is not expected to resume operations before March. Had its AOC not been extended, Niki would have lost all its slots at Düsseldorf, Vienna, Munich and other airports.

Meanwhile, German politicians are still criticising the European Commission's decision to block the takeover by Lufthansa. The group offered EUR190 million (USD228.9 million) for Niki alone, while the deal with IAG is only worth EUR20 million and additional EUR16.5 million in liquidity for the company. The critics in Germany indicate that such a discount lowered the likelihood of airberlin group repaying its EUR150 million bridge loan which it has received from the state-owned KfW bank.

The takeover by IAG is also challenged by FairPlane, a company specialised in passenger compensation claims. It filed a motion to relocate the Niki bankruptcy proceedings from Germany to Austria, thus invalidating all deals signed to this date during the process.