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BERLIN, May 16 (Reuters) - Air Berlin has one lastshot at turning itself around, its chief executive told a Germannewspaper, underlining the scale of the challenge facingGermany's second largest airline.
The budget airline, 29 percent owned by Abu Dhabi-basedEtihad, has made operating losses in four of the last five yearsand changed its chief executive four times in the last threeyears as it seeks to stem losses and reduce debt.
"It's our last shot. We have to manage it now, there won'tbe a second chance," Stefan Pichler said in an interview withSueddeutsche Zeitung published on Saturday.
The airline racked up heavy debts after an acquisitionspree, and Pichler told the paper the takeovers hadn't beenintegrated enough into the company and that the airline neededto reduce costs further to compete with rivals such as Ryanair and easyJet.
Pichler, credited for turning around Fiji Airways beforebecoming CEO at Air Berlin in February, is reviewing theairline's routes and has introduced a new revenue managementsystem to better match ticket prices to demand. Earlier thismonth he said the airline would reduce its fleet further.
"It is possible to save the company. We don't have muchtime," he said.
Pichler, a straight-talking manager who encourages employeesto email him directly with their ideas to improve the company'sfortunes, said that while Air Berlin had burned money for years,he did not expect it to need fresh funding this year.
Air Berlin said in May it was aiming for a "noticeable"improvement in its results this year and to return to anoperating profit in 2016.
Pichler also said it was too early to say whether or not AirBerlin would remain listed on the stock exchange while itunderwent restructuring.
(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; editing by Clelia Oziel)
