Germany’s second largest airline has launched a comprehensive new structure, aiming to make the company more profitable in the future.
Their new ‘Shape & size’ format includes a package of measures such as a reduction of the fleet and the cancellation of unprofitable routes.
Airberlin also plan to reduce their presence at regional airports and concentrate on Berlin, Dusseldorf, Palma de Mallorca and Vienna.
The radical shake up will increase their revenue per passenger, after they announced a loss of 32.2 million euro recently.
The low cost carrier took these radical steps in a quest for their first annual profit since 2007.
Joachim Hunold, Airberlin’s CEO, resigned from his position today.
This came just a few hours after the announcement of the radical plans to drive profits and improve results.
In his final act as CEO, Hunold stated that: “In order to become profitable, we need to make cuts in our flight routes and in our fleet.
“The aviation tax is causing a dramatic distortion of competition. In relation to revenue, we have to pay almost four times as much as our largest competitor.”
Hunold was heavily criticised by analysts for a domineering management style and a lack of clear strategy.
Hunold launched Airberlin in 1991 and took it public in 2006.
The former CEO pinpointed the unprofitable flight routes which should be cancelled.
These included: Frankfurt – Hamburg – Naples – Stuttgart – St. Petersburg – Munich – Cairo – Düsseldorf – Paris.
Airberlin has mounting debts and at the end of June the airline’s total debt was reported to have stood at 616 million euro.
This is 26% more than in December 2010.
Rival airline Ryanair announced on Wednesday that it would take over routes from Germany to Alicante, the popular Spanish destination.
