Air Berlin says start to Q4 was satisfactory

13 Nov, 2014

BERLIN: Germany's Air Berlin said it had made a satisfactory start to the fourth quarter and that plans to harmonise its short and medium-haul fleet to all Airbus A320 planes to help reduce costs would be complete by the end of 2016.

Loss-making Air Berlin, 29 percent owned by Abu-Dhabi based Etihad, announced new restructuring measures earlier this year in a bid to return to profit, including route changes, job cuts and measures to streamnline its fleet.

It said on Thursday it would seek to purchase further A320 narrowbody planes on the market, plus take over 14 aircraft from another European airline.

It had in September cancelled a $5 billion order for Boeing aircraft.

The airline, Germany's second largest after Lufthansa , late on Wednesday published third-quarter results showing a 35 percent fall in operating profit.

The new restructuring measures should boost operating profit by 400 million euros ($498 million) by 2016, Air Berlin said on Wednesday.

The airline made an operating loss of 232 million euros in 2013. It also said in its third-quarter report published on Thursday that operating profit in the final quarter would rise by a double digit million euro figure.

Copyright Reuters, 2014

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