Air Berlin likely to stop long-haul routes from Oct. 15: sources

Air Berlin said no such decision had been made.

The German carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in August after major shareholder Etihad pulled the plug on funding.

It has been forced to scrap long-haul flights from its two bases of Duesseldorf and Berlin after a leasing company asked for its planes to be returned. From late September its only long-haul flights will be from Duesseldorf to a few destinations in the United States, such as New York and Miami.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by David Goodman)