Air Berlin reports heavy losses as restructuring begins

Struggling German airline Air Berlin on Friday reported a fresh loss for the financial year 2016, as it takes the first steps in a far-reaching restructuring launched last year.

Last year, the Berlin-based carrier suffered a net loss of 782 million euros ($855 million), up from 447 million euros in 2015.

“Today’s financial result is extremely unsatisfying,” said chief executive Thomas Winkelmann during a telephone conference with journalists.

“The old Air Berlin was an airline that wanted to do everything. The numbers show very clearly that that doesn’t work,” the former Lufthansa executive went on.

Winkelmann hopes to reorient the firm and bring it back to profitability, and said he was “open to new partnerships and cooperations,” including new investors, in a context of reshuffling in the air travel sector.

Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, has been battling headwinds for years.

Executives presented a massive restructuring plan in late September that included renting 38 aircraft with crew to Lufthansa and slashing 1,200 jobs — or one in seven of its workforce.

The group also split off its package holiday business, which especially serves popular beach destinations.

In future, the unit is to become part of a joint venture with Gulf airline Etihad, an Air Berlin investor to the tune of 29.2 percent of shares, as well as German tour operator Tui and Austria’s Niki.

Air Berlin itself will focus on high-end travel and long-haul services, promising more routes to the United States beginning in May.

The firm’s results have left the red just once since 2008, leaving it dependent on regular cash infusions from Etihad for survival.

Revenues at the group fell to 3.79 billion euros last year, down around 7.1 percent on 2015’s figure, after it reduced its fleet by almost half to 75 aircraft and slashed hundreds of routes, now serving fewer than 100 destinations.

Sales were also sapped by intense price pressure from low-cost competitors.

The airline’s operating result was also deep in the red, with a an underlying loss of 667 million euros.

Explaining the heavy losses, managers pointed to restructuring costs of 335 million euros, a strike by ground crew at Berlin airports — one of its hubs along with Duesseldorf in western Germany — and the threat of terrorism.

First-quarter results released at the same time showed Air Berlin did not reverse the trend at the start of this year, losing 293 million euros between January and March after a 182-million-euro loss in the same period last year.

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© Agence France-Presse