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CorporateRapidly expanding Air Berlin continue to back Novo04 January 2007
Rapidly expanding Air Berlin continue to back Novo
Air Berlin's development is closely linked to Germany's recent history. Air Berlin was the first German national airline to be established in Berlin since the fall of the Berlin Wall. After the Second World War, only aircraft from the Allied powers were allowed to land in Berlin. For this reason, the "Air Berlin Inc." was founded in 1978 in Oregon, USA, by former PanAm captain Kim Lundgren from Portland.
Air Berlin commenced its services on 28th April 1979 with a leased Boeing 707 on a flight from Berlin to Palma de Mallorca, and thereafter with flights to the USA. The "Kerosine guzzler" was soon replaced by two smaller Boeing 737 machines. With the end of the status of occupation, the Allies forfeited their privileges in the German capital and Lundgren had to seek German majority shareholders. In former LTU manager Joachim Hunold he found a partner who launched the German "Air Berlin GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs KG" on 16th April 1991, and found further shareholders for the company.
At the start of 2004 Air Berlin acquired a 24 per cent stake in "NIKI", the new airline owned by the Austrian Niki Lauda, three times Formula One world champion. At the same time Air Berlin acts as service provider for the areas of marketing, sales and logistics. The objective of the first European low-fare alliance is the joint development of the Austrian and eastern European markets.
Survival in a highly competitive market requires creativity. Air Berlin is gaining new customers every day with its new ideas. Most standard operators fly to huge airports such as Frankfurt, Munich or Düsseldorf. Air Berlin was the first holiday airline to operate from "fringe airports" such as Münster / Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Paderborn, Dresden or Dortmund. Air Berlin aimed to provide "blanket coverage" to be closer to its passengers. Originally flights were only available to package tour operators. Once the route network was extensive enough and the flights were sufficiently frequent, "flight-only" tickets were sold directly to the public. This applied to the Majorca Shuttle, for instance, offering daily flights from 12 German airports. Flight-only tickets are available on all Air Berlin routes - and at prices that represent exceptional value.
Constant innovation has allowed Air Berlin to become the second largest German airline and the airline’s growth continues unabated. The airline has 13.5 million passengers per annum and exceeds a 1.2 billion euro turnover. The airline has just reported that profits for the first nine months of 2006 were up by nearly 20%. In tandem with this announcement, the company has declared that it is to boost its fleet with the purchase of 85 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation jets. This commitment to continuous strategic capital investment is reflected in Air Berlin’s association with Novo IVC. Air Berlin originally became a customer in 1997, when they purchased 12 devices to service 4 aircraft.
In November 2006 Air Berlin placed an order for 335 TouchPC™ Falcons, each equipped with an integral TouchPod to facilitate credit card transaction and printing. Tough and versatile, the Falcon’s simple yet ergonomic design provides the Air Berlin cabin staff with a rugged and reliable ‘tool for the job’. The large colour touch screen means that the Novo can optimise the SkyPOS retail software with ‘user-friendliness’ in mind. Air Berlin users are guided through large on-screen buttons and simplistic 'menu driven' applications, enabling retail transactions to be carried out swiftly and efficiently. It is anticipated that Air Berlin will “Go Live” with the new units in February 2007. The Falcons will be used by over 2,500 cabin crew and the on-board data capture system will interface with the Enterprise version of the ‘Pro Logistica’ Back Office system.
The November order represents the third consecutive investment that Air Berlin have made in Novo on board retail systems. The latest generation system provides enhanced capability for high processing speeds and expanded data storage, as well as wireless communication between devices and also to the ground. This will enable on-line credit card verification, car rental and train ticket sales, flight connections and complex special offers to be processed on board, should Air Berlin choose to implement them.
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