airberlin Board appoints new CEO

Thomas Winkelmann will become the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of airberlin group. He will take over as CEO of Air Berlin from February 1. 2017, assuming full accountability for all group activities. He will succeed Stefan Pichler, who decided to leave the company after working for two years on the strategic turnaround of the group. Mr. Pichler achieved this by entering into a wet-lease agreement with the Lufthansa Group for 38 aircraft and through selling the short and medium haul touristic business to Etihad Aviation Group, in order to create a new European leisure airline group in a joint venture with TUI AG. The new airberlin will focus on developing its long haul network out of Berlin and Düsseldorf, with initially 75 aircraft. Thomas Winkelmann will continue the implementation of these measures to ensure a sustainable and profitable future for airberlin.