 Air Berlin BAe 146 on a gate at Dortmund airport Air Berlin began in July 1978 as an American company named "AIR BERLIN USA" flying services out of West-Berlin. Only airlines belonging to the World War II Allies were allowed to fly from Berlin until German reunification in October 1990.
Initial charter flights began in 1979 with a Boeing 707 to Palma de Mallorca. Even today, the so called City Shuttle to Germany's favorite holiday island is one of Air Berlin's busiest routes. Air Berlin is also the biggest airline on Mallorca. Palma de Mallorca is also used a a hub were about a dozen flights from / to German meet once or twice a day to connecting to destinations to / from the Iberian Peninsula.
After German reunification in 1990 German Investors took over the majority of shares and the airline was registered under German law and renamed "AIR BERLIN". Holiday charter flights, which had been restricted to Berlin only, were now flown from other German airports, including Mönchengladbach, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Bremen, Münster, Nürnberg and Hamburg. Due to airline derugularisation in the European Union these flights are now operated as scheduled flights. The airline started schedules flight to European Business capitals like London, Zurich, Vienna, Barcelona in the late 1990s using some of its aircrafts for these so called "City Shuttles" in the early morning / late evening hours while they sever popular tourist destinations during the mid day hours.
 Air Berlin Boeing 737-800 at Düsseldorf International Airport, with Thomas Cook Airlines Boeing 757 behind it By the end of 1981 the fleet had been changed to the Boeing 737. In 2003, the whole fleet consisted of this aircraft type, with some model -400, mostly model -800, and 3 leased BAe 146 aircraft. Air Berlin also became Germany's second largest airline after Lufthansa.
In January 2004, Air Berlin announced cooperation with former F1 driver Niki Lauda's newly founded airline Fly Niki. The two airlines considered their cooperation a "low fares alliance". Air Berlin now holds 24 percent on Lauda's enterprise.
IATA Code
Air Berlin uses the IATA designator code AB.
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