April 5, 2012
Air Berlin, the German airline partly owned by Gulf carrier Etihad, said passenger numbers fell 1.1 percent in March, although it was able to fly with fuller planes in the month.
Germany's second largest airline after Lufthansa carried 2.57 million passengers in March.
Its load factor climbed 4.4 percentage points to 78.1 percent, while the number of seats it offered fell 6.7 percent.
Air Berlin has been trying to shrink itself back to profitability by cutting routes, seats and delaying aircraft orders.
