is a major
Low-cost Airline based in
Berlin ,
Germany . It operates scheduled services from a range of European airports. The airline carried over 12 million passengers in
2004 .
After
World War Two until October
1990 the only aircraft allowed to land in
Berlin were those from Allied powers. As a result, "Air Berlin Inc." was formed in
Oregon , USA by a former
Pan Am captain.
Initial charter flights began in 1979 with a
Boeing 707 to
Palma De Mallorca . Even today, the so called to Germany's favorite holiday island is one of Air Berlin's busiest routes and Air Berlin is also the biggest airline on
Majorca .
Palma De Mallorca is also used a
Hub with about a dozen flights from/to Germany connecting to destinations in the
Iberian Peninsula .
After German reunification in
1990 , German investors took over the majority of shares and the airline was registered under German law and renamed Air Berlin. Holiday charter flights, which previously were restricted to Berlin, were now flown from other German airports, including
Mönchengladbach ,
Düsseldorf ,
Dortmund ,
Bremen ,
Münster ,
Nürnberg and
Hamburg . Due to airline deregulation in the European Union these flights are now operated as scheduled flights. The airline started scheduled flights to European business capitals, such as
London ,
Zurich ,
Vienna and
Barcelona , in the late
1990s using some of its aircraft for these so called "City Shuttles" in the early morning/late evening and using these same aircraft to serve popular tourist destinations during the middle of the day.
By the end of
1981 the fleet had been changed to the
Boeing 737 . In
2003 , the whole fleet consisted of this aircraft type, with some model -400, mostly model -800, and 3 leased
BAe 146 aircraft. Air Berlin also became Germany's second largest airline after
Lufthansa .
In January
2004 , Air Berlin announced cooperation with former
Formula One driver
Niki Lauda 's newly founded airline
Niki . The two airlines considered their cooperation a "low fares alliance". Air Berlin now holds 24% of Lauda's enterprise. In November 2004 Air Berlin and its Austrian partner Fly Niki announced the joint purchase of 110
Airbus A320 s. A firm order for 70 aircraft has been placed, 60 of which will be delivered to Air Berlin and 10 to FlyNiki. They have an option to purchase a further 40 aircraft. Delivery of the planes is expected to start in September 2005.
Air Berlin is owned by Reidun and Kim Lundgren (26%), Hans-Joachim Knieps (26%), Severin and Rudolf Schulte (25%), Werner Huehn (15%) and Joachim Hunold (9%).
For a full list of destinations served by Air Berlin, see
Air Berlin Destinations .
The Air Berlin fleet consists of the following aircraft (at March 2006):
- Air Berlin are taking 60 of a 70 A320-200 joint purchase with Niki
The average Air Berlin fleet age is 5.9 years old in April 2006.
