The Association of European Airlines, representing Europe’s most important network carriers, has expanded its membership to 36 from the beginning of January, with the addition of airberlin. Airberlin is Germany’s second largest airline and Europe’s sixth largest airline in terms of passengers.
“We are delighted that airberlin has joined the Association of European Airlines”, said AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus. “A product of German reunification, the airline has consistently grown both organically, as well as through acquisitions into an airline group with 8,200 employees, whose 169 aircraft transported 33.6 million passengers in 2010; airberlin will certainly add further clout to the voice of the AEA“.
Joachim Hunold, Chief Executive Officer of airberlin, echoed this optimism and added: “In traditional terms we are a hybrid carrier. That means we aim to offer a high-quality product at very reasonable prices, with leisure and business travellers equally welcome on board our aircraft. We operate from primary airports, offer point-to-point services as well as connecting flights, run a very successful and fast-growing frequent flyer programme and have tailored our product to serve the needs of business travellers. Premium check-in facilities, lounges and class differentiation on our long-haul flights are just a few examples.
I believe we, in the airline sector, should focus primarily on consumer interests, and make sure these are well understood in the political world. In this respect airlines should co-ordinate their efforts more effectively to boost the competitiveness of European aviation. The business models are the result of commercial decisions and should not play any role when promoting the interests of European aviation and its customers”.
