Airberlin beefs up board to get ready for oneworld membership

Airberlin will become a full member of the oneworld alliance next year, and to accommodate this enhancement, its board has decided to increase the number of its executive board members, which currently stands at three.

In the future, the Executive Board will, therefore, consist of CEO Joachim Hunold, CFO Ulf Hüttmeyer, and COO Christoph Debus, as well as the CCO (Chief Commercial Officer), who is still to be appointed. Until the new appointment has been made, Joachim Hunold will be taking over as acting CCO with responsibility for Network and Sales. Christoph Debus, as Chief Operating Officer (COO), in addition to being responsible for Operations and Human Resources, will be concentrating primarily on integrating LTU and affiliated companies, as well as preparing the information technology (IT) system for the challenges associated with future cooperation arrangements within oneworld.

Membership of oneworld will provide airberlin passengers with access to a unique, global network. With airberlin joining the alliance, the number of oneworld gateways will rise to 75, while the number of destinations will increase to almost 900 in 150 countries. The combined fleet includes 2,500 aircraft and offers around 9,500 flights per day, carrying 340 million passengers per annum.

In preparation for its membership of oneworld, airberlin has concluded an agreement with American Airlines and Finnair, two core members of the alliance, to operate codeshare flights. A bilateral agreement with British Airways and Iberia is to follow.

British Airways will be acting as airberlin’s alliance sponsor to introduce it to the oneworld program.