Air Berlin
Air Berlin plc & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (FWB: AB1), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline after Lufthansa, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was headquartered in Berlin and had hubs at Berlin Tegel Airport and Düsseldorf Airport. At the time of its insolvency, it was a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, having joined in 2012.
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| Founded | 1978 (as Air Berlin USA) | ||||||
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| Commenced operations |
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| Ceased operations | 27 October 2017 | ||||||
| Hubs | |||||||
| Focus cities | Palma de Mallorca | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | topbonus | ||||||
| Alliance | Oneworld (2012–2017) | ||||||
| Subsidiaries | |||||||
| Parent company | Air Berlin plc & Co. Luftverkehrs KG | ||||||
| Headquarters | Airport Bureau Center, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Berlin, Germany | ||||||
| Key people | Thomas Winkelmann (CEO) | ||||||
The airline was originally founded by American interests in 1978 to provide airline service to West Berlin, a territory that could not legally be served by West German airlines such as Lufthansa due to political restrictions on East German airspace. In 1991, shortly after German reunification, Air Berlin became a German-owned company and shifted its core business to compete more directly with Lufthansa, eventually becoming one of Germany's biggest airlines. After years of losses, however, Air Berlin filed for insolvency in August 2017 and ceased operations two months later.