Air Berlin has signed an agreement with aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing to partly postpone delivery of 19 new aircraft, valued at about $1.6bn, from the companies to help ease its debt load.

The deliveries of Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft, which were originally scheduled for 2012 and 2013, will be postponed until 2015 and 2016.

Air Berlin has pushed back the delivery of 11 aircraft from Airbus’s A320 family of planes and eight from Boeing’s 737 family until 2015 and 2016.

The company’s investment requirements will be reduced by $508m in 2012 and by $1,128.4m in 2013.