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Air Berlin - Serving holiday destinations throughout the Mediterranean
Air Berlin is Germanys' second largest airline (Lufthansa is the largest), operating a network of flights to major cities and holiday destinations throughout Europe. Based in Berlin, the airline has local hubs in Dusseldorf and Nuremberg, as well as in Majorca, with 360 flights departing to the popular holiday island alone every week. From here, Airberlin connects to many other Spanish cities and tourist hotspots such as Malaga, Alicante, Almeria, Ibiza and Mahon. The company travels to other Mediterranean destinations, along with North Africa and the Canaries, together with extensive domestic routes around Germany and cities throughout Europe - in total operating flights to almost 100 destinations.
Airberlin - Second largest airline in Germany, third largest low-fare carrier in Europe
The airline boasts low-cost flights modelled on the US carriers rather than the budget European companies, offering guaranteed connections from its hubs and including services such as meals, assigned seating and a frequent flyer programme - 'topbonus'. Founded in 1978, the company was set up by a former Pan Am captain as an American supplemental carrier and was known as Air Berlin USA, operating charter flights to Mediterranean and the Canaries. After reunification in 1990, German investors took over and the airline joined AITA with new scheduled routes to major European business centres such as London and Zurich. Over the last few years, Airberlin has acquired stakes in other airlines such as NIKI and Belair and taken over LTU International and dba, with a recent announcement in 2007 that it would acquire Condor Airlines.
Airberlin - First national company to be established in Germany after reunification
Airberlin has a fleet of 126 aircraft, including 30 Airbus A320-200 and 35 Boeing 737-800, with the average age of its aircraft being around 6 years. The company went public in 2006 and is owned by Freefloat, which has a 61% stake in the company, and employs a staff of 4,400. Figures for 2006 include a turnover of 1.57 billion Euros and a passenger total of 19.7 million for that year.
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