On October 27, AirBerlin will shut down its operations, with its last flight (AB6210) scheduled to travel from Munich to Berlin, departing at 9:35 PM. This final flight has been sold out for two weeks, with some seats fetching prices six times higher than usual.
AirBerlin started in 1978 with just one plane, a leased Boeing 707, running a single route from Berlin to Palma de Mallorca. After the Berlin Wall fell, the company expanded, mainly focusing on flying German tourists to and from Spain.
In 2006, AirBerlin acquired DBA, the German branch of British Airways. Then, in 2010, it bought Niki, making AirBerlin Germany’s second-largest airline. However, despite its growth, the airline only reported an annual net profit three times since 2006, with losses increasing over the last four years.
On August 15, 2017, AirBerlin began insolvency proceedings after its main shareholder, Etihad Airways, withdrew ongoing financial support. By October 12, 2017, Lufthansa had agreed to purchase 81 of AirBerlin’s aircraft and employ 3,000 of its workers in a deal worth €210 million. This agreement included taking over the subsidiaries Niki and Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter, which together had 1,700 employees.
Meanwhile, other AirBerlin planes and crews might continue flying, as the airline has been scrambling to finalize last-minute deals with EasyJet and Condor, the German affiliate of Thomas Cook.