Air Berlin concludes codeshare agreements with American Airlines and Finnair after joining oneworld

On Tuesday, July 27th 2010, Air Berlin, the second largest airline in Germany and the fifth largest in Europe, announced that it is to join oneworld®, the world's premier airline alliance for international quality carriers. Full membership is envisaged for the beginning of 2012.

In preparation for joining the alliance, Air Berlin has set up codeshare agreements with American Airlines and Finnair. This will provide Air Berlin passengers with access to the important American market and, via the Helsinki hub, to the rapidly growing Asian markets. The codeshare flights will be available in time for the winter schedule 2010/11.

Joachim Hunold, CEO Air Berlin, commented on the agreement that is linked to Air Berlin's plans to join oneworld, the global airline alliance: "We are very pleased that the bilateral agreement will be in place for the start of the winter schedule 2010/11. With our friends at American Airlines we will link our hubs on both sides of the Atlantic to achieve a major increase in our services by operating codeshare flights. Initially we will offer 38 routes, including nine transatlantic routes, as part of this codeshare."

Tom Horton, President of American Airlines, added: "We are pleased to announce our partnership with Air Berlin, the second largest German airline, which has also become one of the most respected airlines in Europe over the past two decades. This relationship will add significant value for our customers by substantially growing our global network. The agreement provides our customers with extensive access to Germany, Europe's biggest economy, as well as many other business and leisure destinations. Furthermore, Air Berlin's U.S. services truly complement our three strategic core markets - New York, Miami, and Los Angeles."

As regards the codeshare agreement with Finnair, Joachim Hunold remarked: "Finnair and Air Berlin were able to survive the selection process experienced by European airlines because they took action rather than watching from the sidelines. We are delighted that Finnair and Air Berlin have reached an agreement on offering codeshare flights from the start of this year's winter schedule. Finnair is a superb bilateral partner for Air Berlin and provides our passengers with excellent access to the Asian markets via the Finnair hub in Helsinki".

Mika Vehviläinen, President of Finnair, commented: "As one of the first airlines to have joined oneworld, Finnair is delighted to welcome Air Berlin as a new member of the alliance. The bilateral agreement will provide Air Berlin passengers with first-class access to destinations in Asia via our Helsinki hub. In return, our clients from Finland will have extensive access to destinations in southern and western Europe."

From its New York hub at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK), American Airlines offers flights to 56 destinations. The Miami hub of American Airlines is at the heart of an exceptional density of flight connections to 30 destinations in Mexico, Central and South America. In addition, American Airlines offers a network to 23 islands in the Caribbean and six destinations in the Bahamas, which exceeds the services provided by any other airline. From its Los Angeles hub there are 31 connections including four destinations in Hawaii.

In the last few years Finnair has become a major airline operating passenger flights between Europe and Asia. From its modern Helsinki hub it offers long-haul flights that connect Europe with key destinations in Asia. Finnair operates flights to ten cities in Asia (Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Bangkok as well as New Delhi, Nagoya, Seoul and Singapore). In 2008 the airline carried 1.3 million passengers between Europe and Asia. From Helsinki there are connections to the German cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart (from August 2010) and Munich.