Air Berlin says it will step up cost-cutting

FRANKFURT- Agence France-Presse

Air Berlin Chief Executive Hartmut Mehdorn speaks at a press conference in Hamburg. The airline will implement additional cost cutting. EPA photo

Germany’s number two airline Air Berlin, in the red since 2008, said yesterday it would intensify its drive to steer back to profit by next year.

The carrier did not reveal the details of the additional cost-cutting measures, but a report in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said it was seeking more than 100 million euros ($131 million) in further annual savings.

Under an initial cost-cutting program already underway, Air Berlin has penciled in a 230-million-euro reduction in fixed costs this year.

“The new complementary program is in response to an economic environment that is continuing to darken, to a weaker euro and a weakening of consumption in face of growing uncertainty,” the company said in a statement. Air Berlin shares were showing a loss of 0.57 percent on the small-cap stock index SDax on the Frankfurt stock exchange yesterday.