Air Berlin leadership change
January 7, 2013
Air Berlin's Hartmut Mehdorn would depart as chief executive officer by mutual agreement with the airline, the German carrier said in a statement Monday.
Mehdorn would take a non-executive seat on the airline's supervisory board, the statement said.
Mehdorn would be replaced by Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, who had previously been responsible for strategy and planning at Germany's second largest airline, Air Berlin added.
Hartmut Mehdorn had been a former CEO of Germany's national railways before he became chief of Air Berlin on an interim basis in September 2011. At the time, Air Berlin founder Joachim Hunold quit amid a row over his course of rapid expansion which has run up huge debt.
In his 16-month term, Mehdorn subjected the loss-making carrier to a tough restructuring program and brought Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways on board as Air Berlin's biggest shareholder. He described his resignation as a leadership change coming at the right time.
Air Berlin said Wolfgang Prock-Schauer was a respected airline expert who was expected to continue Mehdorn's cost-cutting effort in order to write a profit as soon as possible. Prock-Schauer, a 56-year-old Austrian, previously held posts at Austrian Airlines and Indian carrier Jet Airways.
uhe/rc (AFP, AP, dpa)