Air Berlin loss blamed on tourism drop

Air Berlin made a E45.6m net loss in its third quarter as weak tourism demand hit revenue. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), and restructuring costs were down 31% to E55.81m. After restructuring costs were factored in Air Berlin made a E17.3m EBIT loss. In what Air Berlin said was a challenging market, the airline saw revenue drop 5% to E1.23b from Q3 last year. Capacity (in available seat km) increased by only 0.1%, but revenue per available seat km (RASK) was down by 5.5%. Load factor edged up 0.4 percentage points to 88.64%. Air Berlin said that due to the threat of terrorism it had moved capacity from the Eastern Mediterranean to Spanish destinations such as Mallorca and the Canary Islands. “Due to increased market pressure, particularly in the tourism sector, the third quarter did not meet our expectations, and conditions remain challenging,” CE Stefan Pichler said. “While the fourth quarter will not bring a significant operational improvement for Air Berlin, we are confident of being able to announce progress with our restructuring in the foreseeable future,” he added.<br/>