Air Berlin sees flight operations stabilizing on Thursday: staff memo

[September 13, 2017]  BERLIN (Reuters) - Air Berlin expects its flight operations to stabilize on Thursday as pilots return from sick leave, it told staff in an internal memo on Wednesday, after the insolvent German airline was forced to cancel more than 130 flights in two days.

An Airbus A330-223 aircraft of German carrier AirBerlin takes off towards New York, U.S., from Duesseldorf airport, Germany, September 12, 2017. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

"Since last night more than two dozen captains have reported they are fit to fly," Air Berlin said in the memo.

It called on its remaining pilots to support the airline as the sale of its assets nears the home stretch, saying continued flights were a pre-requisite for jobs at Air Berlin to be saved.

It said at least 32 flights would be canceled on Wednesday, and that it was unable to operate 35 flights for Lufthansa's <LHAG.DE> budget airline Eurowings.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Victoria Bryan)

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