Air Berlin’s restructuring plans hit a snag

The AirBerlin restructuring seemed to be going awfully well. The **company signed the [expected agreement with Lufthansa Group to shift 40 aircraft](http://blog.wandr.me/wp-admin/post.php?post=19432&action=edit) over to the larger company and shed dozens of point-to-point routes from the operations. It even [announced successful negotiations with trade union Verdi](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-air-berlin-restructuring-unions-idUSKCN12137U)** to bring the cabin crew contracts to a common contract and support the transition. But it didn’t quite finish negotiations with the pilots before the announcement. Turns out that is a bit of a problem.

As in the carrier is mostly shutting down for a day **because it can no longer properly staff flights**. Yeah, that is a problem.

The negotiated deal also includes TUIfly and flights operated by that company as a wet-lease for AirBerlin. The TUIfly operations are supposed to merge with NIKI to rebuild the point-to-point leisure operations under a new brand, backed by Etihad group. But the pilots union is not so happy with the situation and staged a sick-out, causing the cancellation of scores of flights. Airberlin was able to scramble and replace 30 of the 90 canceled flights with its own planes but the net effect is still a mess and it remains unclear just how long the staffing issues will remain. Obviously the **company’s efforts to assuage union concerns came up short. That there is also [speculation about TUIfly partnering with easyJet](http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/63233/tuifly-denies-easyjet-link-up-speculation)** to give the British carrier a foothold on the Continent post-Brexit probably doesn’t help the situation.

But things were going so well when the deal was announced…

Header Image: Air Berlin A320 by Silvio Kelch via CC-SA