EuroBerlin France

EuroBerlin France was a Franco-German joint venture airline founded in 1988."Berlin Airport Company, November 1988 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1988] cite news | title= World Airline Directory 1989 | work= Flight International | date= March 1989] It was jointly owned by Air France and Lufthansa, with the former holding a 51% stake and the latter the remaining 49%. EuroBerlin France's corporate headquarters was located in Paris, France, while Berlin Tegel Airport in what used to be West Berlin in the days prior to Germany's [German reunification| [re-] unification] was its operational headquarters.

The airline commenced commercial operations from Tegel Airport at the start of the 1988-'89 winter timetable period with a fleet of four Boeing 737-300 jet aircraft leased from UK Independent charter and scheduled carrier Monarch Airlines. Monarch Airlines supplied all of EuroBerlin's flightdeck crew, while Monarch's sister company Monarch Aircraft Engineering provided the maintenance support for the EuroBerlin operation at Tegel, under a wet lease agreement. Air France staff at the French flag carrier's Paris headquarters performed all of EuroBerlin's administrative functions. As a result of these arrangements, most employees on EuroBerlin's payroll were flight attendants. (Groundhandling at Tegel Airport and the other stations served was outsourced to a third party handling agent as well. [http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1989/1989%20-%202395.html?search=Euroberlin%20France "The airline from Berlin", Flight International, 5 August 1989, pp.29-31] ] )

From the start of the 1989 summer season a fifth Boeing 737-300 was leased from Monarch Airlines."Berlin Airport Company, April 1989 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1989]

By 1990 the EuroBerlin fleet comprised seven 737-300s, all of which were leased from Monarch."Berlin Airport Company, April 1990 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1990] cite news | title= World Airline Directory 1990 | work= Flight International | date= March 1990] Following German [re-] unification in October 1990, Air France and Lufthansa adjusted their stakes in EuroBerlin so that each airline owned exactly 50% of its share capital."Berlin Airport Company, November 1990 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1990] cite news | title= World Airline Directory 1991 | work= Flight International | date= March 1991] This resulted in the "France" suffix being dropped from the airline's name.

EuroBerlin was dissolved at the end of 1994."Berlin Airport Company, November 1994 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1994] cite news | title= World Airline Directory 1995 | work= Flight International | date= March 1995]

History

Several years of successive declines and stagnation of scheduled internal German air traffic from and to West Berlin during the 1970s and early 1980s ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1972 Annual Report, February 1973 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1973] ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1974 Annual Report, February 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975] ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1980 Annual Report, February 1981 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1981] were followed by renewed expansion in this market from the mid-1980s onwards ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1984 Annual Report, February 1985 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1985] ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1985 Annual Report, February 1986 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1986] ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1986 Annual Report, February 1987 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1987] .

During the prolonged period of decline/stagnation Pan Am and British Airways, the two dominant scheduled carriers in the internal German air transport market from and to West Berlin, had significantly reduced the number of flight frequencies, while replacing competitive with collaborative schedules on most of the routes served from Berlin."Berlin Airport Company, November 1974 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1974] [http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1988/1988%20-%201037.html?search=Berlin%20European%20UK "The battle for Berlin", Flight International, 23 April 1988, pp. 19-21] ] This had led to a widely perceived fall in service standards and choice of airlines/air services on individual routes, as well as widespread criticism from West Berlin's city government and its business community. ["Berlin Airport Company, November 1975 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1975]

Air France, West Berlin's third scheduled carrier, had withdrawn entirely from the internal German market as long ago as 1969, reducing its presence at the city's Tegel Airport to providing a single daily non-stop scheduled service from/to Paris Orly only. [http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1972/1972%20-%202017.html?search=BEA%20in%20Berlin "BEA in Berlin", Air Transport, Flight International, 10 August 1972, pp. 180/1] ] (This move was designed to staunch the growing losses Air France's internal German routes from/to Tegel had incurred ever since Pan Am had introduced jet equipment on its own internal German services from/to Tempelhof in 1966. To keep a presence in the internal German air transport market from/to West Berlin, Air France had entered into a collaborative agreement with BEA, whose internal German services from/to West Berlin were using Tempelhof as well. This agreement covered the Berlin-Frankfurt and Berlin-Munich routes. The agreement's intention was to enable both BEA and Air France to compete better with Pan Am's more frequent services on these routes by pooling their resources. It entailed the joint operation of these routes from Tempelhof with BEA BAC One-Eleven 500 aircraft and mixed BEA/Air France cabin crews. However, BEA's claim that it returned to profitability on both its Frankfurt and Munich routes from Berlin as a result of the collaborative agreement with Air France was contradicted by the latter's counter claim that it was still losing money on these routes, in spite of that agreement. This in turn led to the agreement's termination as of November 1, 1972. The same day Air France introduced a second daily return flight between Orly and Tegel, which was routed via Cologne in both directions to maintain the airline's internal German traffic rights from/to Berlin. ["Berlin Airport Company, November 1972 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1972] From April 1, 1974 Air France routed both of its daily Orly-Tegel services via Cologne, and from November 1, 1974 it switched them to the French capital's then new Charles de Gaulle Airport. ["Berlin Airport Company, April 1974 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1974] At the start of the 1976 summer timetable period Air France introduced a third daily CDG-Tegel frequency, which was routed via Düsseldorf and utilised the much bigger Boeing 727-200 [compared with the Caravelles that were used on the company's other services from/to Berlin] . ["Berlin Airport Company, April 1976 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1976] Air France subsequently routed all of its CDG-Tegel flights via Düsseldorf and standardised the aircraft equipment used to operate these services on the 727-200/200 "Advanced".)

The perceived lack of genuine competition in a growing market coincided with continuing criticism of the ailing Pan Am's internal German operation. ["Berlin Airport Company, February 1988 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1988] This, as well as the desire to establish a bridgehead in Europe in anticipation of European air transport liberalisation, resulted in US majors American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and TWA expressing an interest in breaking the long-standing Pan Am/BA internal German duopoly at West Berlin. ["Berlin Airport Company, March 1988 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1988] [cite news | title= World Airline Directory 1988 | work= Flight International | date= March 1988] Four of these airlines then proceeded to apply to the US FAA as well as to West Berlin's Allied Air Attachés to be licensed to begin operating scheduled internal German services from West Berlin. This in turn provided the impetus for Air France and Lufthansa to secure a share of this expanding and potentially lucrative market for themselves.

The only way for Air France and Lufthansa to compete successfully in this market was by way of establishing a subsidiary with substantially lower operating costs than those of the incumbent airlines.

In addition, both airlines needed to find a way that would legalise Lufthansa's participation in the provision of commercial air services from/to West Berlin to comply with post-World War II Allied rules that restricted such services to the airlines of the three Western victorious powers of World War II only. Both airlines therefore decided to establish EuroBerlin France as a jointly owned operating company in which Air France became the controlling shareholder. This was achieved by Air France taking a 51% majority stake (as opposed to Lufthansa's 49% minority stake), thereby making EuroBerlin a French legal entity and enabling it to conduct commercial airline operations at West Berlin.

To make the newly formed airline cost-competitive with incumbents Pan Am and British Airways, Luton-based UK Independent Monarch Airlines and its sister company Monarch Aircraft Engineering were contracted to provide all aircraft and flightdeck crew as well as the aircraft's maintenance support under a wet lease arrangement. Furthermore, all functions other than employing and managing local flight attendants as well as the operational management of the airline were outsourced.

Operations commenced on November 7, 1988 with four state-of-the-art Boeing 737-300s leased from Monarch. These inaugurated high-frequency shuttle services from Berlin Tegel to Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart.

EuroBerlin's livery incorporated elements of both Air France's and Lufthansa's contemporary liveries using the former's corporate colours (red and blue on a white background).

From the start of the 1989 summer timetable period a fifth 737-300 was leased from Monarch to increase week day frequencies on the existing four routes as well as to launch two additional routes serving Düsseldorf and Hamburg respectively from EuroBerlin's Tegel base. From that time onwards EuroBerlin also entered the short- to medium-haul charter market from West Berlin to help it maintain a high aircraft utilisation at week-ends when frequencies on its scheduled route network were reduced.

By 1990 EuroBerlin's fleet had expanded to seven Boeing 737-300s. This firmly established it as the third-largest contemporary airline operator at Berlin Tegel, a position previously held by UK Independent Dan-Air Services. (Dan-Air had established a base at Berlin Tegel in 1969 ["Berlin Airport Company, April 1969 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1969] and was the airport's third-largest operator during the decade from 1978 until 1988. ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1978 Annual Report, February 1979 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1979] ["Berlin Airport Company - Summary of 1988 Annual Report, February 1989 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1989] ["Kompass – summer 1978 and summer 1988 editions", Dan Air Services Ltd., West Berlin, 1978, 1988] )

EuroBerlin quickly made a name for itself in the Berlin air transport market and acquired a loyal customer following as a result of its high-quality in-flight service, which was modelled on Air France's contemporary, short-haul European in-flight service. ["Berlin Airport Company, November 1989 Monthly Timetable Booklet for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports", Berlin Airport Company, West Berlin, 1989] This, as well as its low cost base, helped make the airline profitable within a relatively short period of time, with an average scheduled load factor of 60%.

Following German [re-] unification on October 3, 1990, Air France reduced its stake in EuroBerlin by 1%, while Lufthansa increased its stake by the same amount. This resulted in both airlines becoming equal owners of EuroBerlin. It also resulted in EuroBerlin dropping the "France" suffix from its name, including its physical removal from the aircraft's fuselage titles.

German [re-] unification moreover changed EuroBerlin's strategic role for Lufthansa in the Berlin market. Henceforth, the German flag carrier subcontracted EuroBerlin to operate some of its internal German services from Berlin Tegel for a limited period, during which it gradually replaced EuroBerlin's aircraft and employees with its own planes and staff. This was part of Lufthansa's contemporary corporate strategy to re-establish its presence in Berlin as quickly as possible after a politically enforced absence of 45 years. As a consequence of Lufthansa's new strategy for the Berlin market, EuroBerlin's aircraft fleet and employee strength gradually diminished.

EuroBerlin was finally shut down in December 1994, resulting in the return of its remaining three 737-300s to Monarch Airlines.

Aircraft operated

EuroBerlin operated a single aircraft type fleet built around the Boeing 737-300 throughout its entire existence. All aircraft operated were subleased from Monarch Airlines, which in turn had leased the aircraft from external lessors.

Incidents and accidents

There are no recorded accidents or incidents involving EuroBerlin. [http://aviation-safety.net/database/operator/airlinesearch.php]

Code data

*Former IATA Code: EE
*Former callsign: Eurober

Notes

References

*cite book| title=Berlin Airport Company - Monthly Timetable Booklets for Berlin Tempelhof and Berlin Tegel Airports (German language edition only), selected copies April 1969 - December 1994 | publisher=Berlin Airport Company | place=West Berlin, Germany
*cite journal| title=Flight International | publisher=Reed Business Information | place=Sutton, UK | issn= 0015-3710 (various backdated issues relating to EuroBerlin, 1989-1995)
*cite book| title=Kompass - Dan-Air's German language in-flight magazine, summer 1978 and summer 1988 copies | publisher=Dan Air Services Ltd | place=West Berlin, Germany

External links

[http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0132634&size=L&width=1024&height=629&sok=JURER%20%20%28nveyvar%20%3D%20%27Rheboreyva%20Senapr%27%29%20NAQ%20%28lrne%20YVXR%20%271980%5C%27f%20Yngr%25%27%29%20%20BEQRE%20OL%20cubgb_vq%20QRFP&photo_nr=1 EuroBerlin Boeing 737-3Y0 G-MONH subleased from Monarch Airlines taxiing past a Lufthansa Boeing 747-200 at Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport during the late 1980s]