FRANKFURT (Bloomberg) -- Air Berlin Plc, Europe's third-largest low-cost carrier, said the German antitrust regulator approved its takeover of charter airline LTU without conditions. The shares rose the most in 11 months.

“It is regrettable that the authority's investigation took so long,” Chief Executive Officer Joachim Hunold said in a statement Wednesday. “As a result, we have lost synergies that we would have liked to realize this year.”
Air Berlin in March agreed to buy unprofitable Dusseldorf, Germany-based LTU for 140 million euros (192 million dollars) to offer long-haul routes and expand domestically.
The Bonn-based Federal Cartel Office started an in-depth investigation in May into whether the takeover would hurt competition on routes that both LTU and Air Berlin fly.
Shares of Air Berlin rose as much as 96 cents, or 6.8 percent, to 15.01 euros in the biggest jump since Sept. 8, and were up 3.6 percent at 14.55 euros as of 10:34 a.m. in Frankfurt. The stock has fallen 12 percent this year, valuing the company at 956 million euros.
The Berlin-based carrier expects 70 million euros to 100 million euros in cost savings next year from the takeover, though reaching this target will depend on the outcome of contract talks with LTU pilots, Hunold said.
------------- Pilots strike
The Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union organized a two-hour walkout of LTU pilots in Munich and Dusseldorf on Aug. 6 disrupting travel for thousands of passengers.
LTU has a fleet of 27 aircraft and employs about 2,800 people. The airline flew 5.7 million passengers last year and had sales of 1.06 billion euros.
Air Berlin ranks behind Dublin-based Ryanair Holdings Plc and Luton, England-based EasyJet Plc among European low-fare airlines in terms of passenger numbers. The German discount carrier bought Munich-based competitor DBA last August to gain routes and business travelers.
The airline has evolved since Germany's 1990 reunification from a charter carrier into an airline with scheduled flights focused on taking northern Europeans to Spain's Mediterranean coast and Canary Islands for vacations.
Air Berlin Tuesday signed its first collective-bargaining agreement ever with unions representing pilots and flight attendants at the original company. The contract does not cover employees at the DBA unit or LTU