Air Berlin, Germany's second-biggest airline, said profitability per seat sold eased in October, which is the first decline this year.

Revenue per seat kilometre fell by 1 percent to 6.19 euro cents, the company said Thursday. The load factor increased by 0.2 percentage points to 80.2 percent.

The number of passengers Air Berlin transported fell by 0.9 percent to 2.73 million, including passenger on the former TUIfly city routes, which Air Berlin recently took over.