Helmut Himmelreich takes over as the new chief operating officer (COO) of Air Berlin. Since March 2010 he has been airberlin’s chief maintenance officer. That post will now be filled by his deputy, Marco Ciomperlik, who has already been a member of the Management Board at airberlin technik for some years. From 2003 until 2007 Himmelreich was technical director at Swiss International Airlines Ltd., where he was responsible for International Purchasing, Engineering and Planning. In addition he acted as deputy COO for the areas Cockpit, Cabin and Traffic Control. Prior to this, Himmelreich had already held a variety of responsible posts at LTU for 25 years.