Air Berlin to introduce savings at LTU unit-report

FRANKFURT, Sept 6 (Reuters) - German pilot union Cockpit fears that Air Berlin's (AB1.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) savings programme will lead to job cuts at its charter airline subsidiary LTU and shrink the LTU fleet by 20 percent, business magazine Wirtschaftswoche wrote in an article ahead of publication on Sept. 8.

Air Berlin was planning to cut LTU's fleet by six to 22 aircraft and spread them around to Berlin, Hamburg and elsewhere away from their homebase in Duesseldorf, the article said, citing a letter obtained from the union's wages council.

An Air Berlin spokesman said he could not comment in detail. "This is just speculation. I cannot confirm the figures. The plans have not been completed," he said.

He also pointed to agreements under which LTU is supposed to account for 20 percent of Air Berlin's total fleet. This would be continued, he said.

The savings programme came in mid-June when high jet fuel costs on the heels of oil price rises forced airlines to reconsider their strategies.

The article also quoted Chief Executive Joachim Hunold as saying plans for the winter season will be finalised at end-September at the earliest. This would be just four weeks before the new winter flight schedules would apply. (Reporting by Kerstin Doerr and Vera Eckert; editing by Chris Pizzey)