On April 28, Air Berlin will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Air Berlin currently operates nonstop service from Miami and Fort Myers to Düsseldorf. In April, Air Berlin will operate four flights a week from New York and beginning in May increase it to daily service. In addition three flights a week from Los Angeles and Vancouver also begin operating in May.

On April 28, 1979, flight attendants greeted 178 passengers on board its Boeing 707 for the airline’s first flight. Six days earlier, U.S. pilot Kim Lundgren received his license for “Air Berlin Inc.” from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

A breakfast was served on that first flight and the passengers were able to buy perfume and chocolate as well as handbags from the onboard duty-free shop. In 1979, service was already a key element in the airline’s philosophy. Air Berlin has further improved this standard and 30 years later the airline is regularly gaining awards for service and quality.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lundgren had to seek German majority shareholders. That was the position he was in when he encountered Joachim Hunold, who was then marketing and sales director at LTU.

The German Air Berlin was set up as “Air Berlin GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs KG” on April 16, 1991, and Hunold was appointed sole managing partner. Under his leadership the company developed to become Germany’s second-largest airline. Today, Air Berlin operates 125 aircraft. The fleet has an average age of 4.6 years, which makes it one of the youngest in Europe.

Air Berlin is securing the company’s future by investing in new technologies. The aircraft operated by Air Berlin are extremely fuel-efficient and so provide a lasting contribution to the reduction of aviation emissions. It is Air Berlin’s aim to save approximately 32,000 tons of carbon dioxide in 2009. This corresponds to the CO2 emissions of an Airbus A330 on 225 flights from Düsseldorf to New York.

Air Berlin now flies to 130 places throughout the world. Resorts around the Mediterranean and in the Canaries were some of the major destinations from the start. Hardly any other airline has more experience in this area, not even when it comes to new sales channels.