Air Berlin sees flight operations stabilizing on Thursday: staff memo

BERLIN – 13 September 2017: Air Berlin (AB1.DE) expects its flight operations to stabilize on Thursday as pilots return from sick leave, it told staff in an internal memo on Wednesday, after the insolvent German airline was forced to cancel more than 130 flights in two days.

“Since last night more than two dozen captains have reported they are fit to fly,” Air Berlin said in the memo.

It called on its remaining pilots to support the airline as the sale of its assets nears the home stretch, saying continued flights were a pre-requisite for jobs at Air Berlin to be saved.

It said at least 32 flights would be canceled on Wednesday, and that it was unable to operate 35 flights for Lufthansa’s (LHAG.DE) budget airline Eurowings.