Air Berlin joins One world Alliance

Added: (Thu Aug 19 2010)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Press release

Tuesday, July 27, 2010. Air Berlin, fifth largest airline in Europe is preparing to become a member of the Oneworld ® global alliance, which includes many leading airlines.

Air Berlin should become a full member of Oneworld in early 2012, just weeks before the opening of the new international airport Berlin-Brandenburg, which will be a new hub for air transport in Europe.

Air Berlin is now one of the main actors of the European air market, serving 168 destinations in 40 countries and operates nearly 600 flights per day. In 2009, the airline carried 28 million passengers and recorded a turnover of 3.2 billion Euros (4.5 billion U.S. dollars). The fleet of Air Berlin currently has 165 aircraft.

The inclusion of Air Berlin in Oneworld will enable its client’s access to a single global network. With the entry of this new member, the alliance will include 75 new destinations, nearly 900 in total, in 150 countries. The entire fleet will now be around 2500 aircraft operating approximately 9500 flights per day and carrying 340 million passengers per year. Air Berlin has already concluded an agreement with American Airlines and Finnair, two key members of the alliance for sharing flight numbers. This agreement shall enter into force in winter 2010/2011 and will be followed by bilateral agreements with British Airways and Iberia. British Airways will be acting as the sponsor for Air Berlin throughout its process of accession to Oneworld.

About Air Berlin

Founded in 1979, Air Berlin is now the second largest German airline and the fifth largest European company in terms of number of passengers. After years of organic growth, Air Berlin took control of DBA and LTU, and holds 49.9% shares in the Austrian airline NIKI, and 49% shares in the Swiss company Belair.

Air Berlin occupies a leading position in the airports of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Palma de Mallorca. It also serves several major hubs of the Oneworld alliance including Helsinki, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, Moscow, New York and Bangkok.

About Oneworld

Oneworld brings together some of the biggest names in air traffic: American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Mexicana, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, and a score of affiliates including American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru. The accession of the Russian airline S7 Airlines is scheduled for 2010, the Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines and Germany's Air Berlin have recently completed their accession.

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