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Air Berlin has just put out a new press release confirming that all long-haul operations will have ceased by the end of the 15th October 2017. Flights between Dusseldorf and Los Angeles end today.

“Adjustments to the airberlin schedule airberlin will need to cease its long-haul flight operations by 15 October 2017, as the aircraft leasing companies are gradually withdrawing their Airbus A330 jets. The connection between Dusseldorf and Los Angeles will therefore be discontinued on 25 September 2017. Further cancellations will follow on 16 October 2017.”

The end of many long-haul routes have already been announced, of course, including the Berlin based flights:

• Berlin – Abu Dhabi
• Berlin – Chicago
• Berlin – Miami
• Berlin – New York
• Berlin – Los Angeles
• Berlin – San Francisco
• Düsseldorf – Boston

Some short-haul services are being discontinued this week too and more announcements will be made soon:

“On 29 September 2017, airberlin will discontinue services between Hamburg and Munich and between Cologne/Bonn and Munich. Further adjustments to the flight plan will follow in the coming days. Stable flight operations are a prerequisite for the successful completion of the forthcoming transactions and subsequent transfer into new ownership.”

The press release provides an update on the progress of Air Berlin’s liquidation, with Lufthansa and EasyJet apparently keen to pick up some of the airline’s operations. Thomas Winkelmann, CEO of Air Berlin is quoted as saying, “We are on the way to achieving good job prospects for around 80 % of our colleagues with our bidders”, which would be a significant achievement given the circumstances.

Bottom line

The complete end of Air Berlin won’t be long now. I just hope the CEO is right and that as many jobs as possible can be saved.