Air Berlin appoints new CE following restructuring

Air Berlin's CE is to step down in the new year, to be replaced by a senior manager at Lufthansa following a wide-ranging shake-up of the loss-making carrier. Air Berlin said Sunday Stefan Pichler will step down Feb 1, 2 years after he took over, to be replaced by Thomas Winkelmann. Air Berlin has announced a series of restructuring moves in recent weeks that will halve its fleet to around 75 aircraft. It is leasing 38 crewed aircraft to Lufthansa and spinning off its tourist routes as a new leisure airline joint venture with tour operator TUI's TUIFly unit, to focus on long-haul flights operated out of Berlin and Dusseldorf. It is still loss-making, however, and has been hit this year by fierce competition on routes to Spain as tourists avoided eastern Mediterranean destinations due to security fears. <br/>