Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa. It is based in Berlin, and operates extensive semi-low-cost services to holiday destinations on the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and North Africa, as well as to major cities in Europe from 21 German airports. Its main base is Berlin-Tegel International Airport, with hubs at Düsseldorf International Airport, Nuremberg Airport and Son Sant Joan Airport, Palma

History: In 1978 a former Pan Am captain formed Air Berlin as a US supplemental carrier and incorporated it under the name Air Berlin, Inc. in Oregon, USA. Air Berlin traded as Air Berlin USA until the end of the Cold War on 2 October 1990. Airline's first aircraft was a Boeing 707-331, which it had acquired second-hand from TWA. This aircraft was stationed at Berlin's Tegel Airport. It was assigned to fulfill a lucrative charter contract to operate a series of short- to medium-haul charter flights to the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands on behalf of Berliner Flug Ring, at the time West Berlin's leading package tour operator. Air Berlin also operated a weekly scheduled service from Tegel via Brussels to Orlando, Florida, USA, for a brief period during the early 1980s. Air Berlin initially augmented its fleet through the acquisition of additional, second-hand Boeing 707s. These were replaced with more modern, second-hand Boeing 737-200 "Advanced", which were more appropriate for the airline's IT operations from Berlin, from the spring of 1981. Eventually, Air Berlin transitioned to a fleet entirely composed of brand-new Boeing 737-300/400s during the late 1980s. Following Germany's reunification on 3 October 1990, German investors acquired a majority stake in the company and Joachim Hunold, a former LTU manager, became the CEO. The airline was re-registered under German law and renamed Air Berlin GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs KG. The airline joined IATA and started scheduled flights to European business capitals, such as London, Zurich, Vienna and Barcelona in 1997. In January 2004, Air Berlin announced cooperation with former Formula One driver Niki Lauda's newly founded airline Niki and took a 24% stake in Niki. In 2006, Air Berlin successfully completed an initial public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Later in 2006 Air Berlin announced that it had acquired 100% of the shares in dba and in August 2006, the acquisition was formally completed. In March 2007, Air Berlin took over German charter airline LTU International, thereby creating the fourth largest airline group in Europe (in terms of passenger traffic), carrying 22.1 million passengers in 2006. At the same time, Air Berlin acquired a 49% shareholding in Swiss airline Belair. Air Berlin has a fleet of 120 airplanes of which 60 are Boeing 737-800’s. Source Wikipedia.