Air Berlin, Germany's second largest airline after Lufthansa, which operates two daily flights on the Bucharest-Berlin route, will close this route and thus withdraw from the Romanian market starting February 26.

It is the second airline announcing its departure from Romania starting February, after Alitalia, according to sources in the tourism market cited by local Profit.ro. The company hasn’t confirmed the information.

Etihad, the United Arab Emirates company that holds shares both in Air Berlin and Alitalia, wants to restructure flights that are not deemed profitable, according to the same sources.

Several airlines have experiences difficulties in the past years, after Irish low-cost company Ryanair entered the Romanian market. With two daily flights from Bucharest to Berlin, Ryanair strongly bit into the market segment operated by Air Berlin.

In fact, Ryanair launched a special offer “to accommodate customers who have had their travel plans disrupted by Air Berlin’s decision to cancel its flights on this route”. Ryanair’s rescue fares start from EUR 9.99 for travel in February and March.

German airline Lufthansa also experiences issues on the Bucharest-Berlin route according to sources quoted by Profit.ro.

Ryanair ranked first among the airlines in Europe based on the number of transported passengers.

editor@romania-insider.com