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Air Berlin CEO quits

November 3, 2014

German carrier Air Berlin's chief executive, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, has announced he'll resign from his post in February of next year. He's been struggling to raise the airline's profitability amid fierce competition.

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Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, outgoing Air Berlin CEO
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch

Germany's second-largest carrier, Air Berlin, announced Monday its chief executive, Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, would step down from his post on February 1, 2015 to make way for former Lufthansa executive Stefan Pichler.

Prock-Schauer said the management reshuffle came at his own wish. He would stay in the company as chief strategist, the carrier said.

The Austrian manager became Air Berlin's CEO in early 2013, taking over from Hartmut Mehdorn, who's now in charge of building operations at the delay-stricken new Berlin-Brandenburg international airport.

Loss-making fleet

The Case of Air Berlin - What lies ahead for the German airline?

At a news conference last week, Prock-Schauer presented details of a long-term restructuring scheme aimed at helping the carrier return to profitability. The carrier would cut an additional 200 jobs, on top of the 900 that had already been slashed.

But he said there would be no drastic measures beyond these job reductions and other cost-cutting initiatives. He's blamed German labor laws for not being able to save more in the restructuring process.

Air Berlin has only once logged an annual profit in the past five years. The airline has already trimmed its fleet and has relied on cash injections by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, which holds a 30-percent stake in the German carrier.

hg/sgb (Reuters, AFP, dpa)