Etihad wins German court injunction for airberlin deal

Etihad Airways has welcomed the ruling by the Administrative Court of Braunschweig allowing it to continue operating all its codeshare flights with airberlin to destinations in Europe, the US and the UAE. 

The injunction, which is valid until 8 November, provides an opportunity for the parties to resolve outstanding differences through ongoing consultation between the Governments of the United Arab Emirates and the Federal Republic of Germany. Etihad Airways as well as airberlin will continue to honour all flights and passenger travel arrangements will remain entirely unaffected.

Etihad Airways applied for the injunction to help protect the German carrier’s 8,000 employees and provide the passengers who have booked more than 82,000 journeys with clarity and confidence.

The airline was forced to launch legal action as Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure had still not approved Etihad Airways codesharing on the airberlin services during the IATA Winter 2015/2016 schedule, which began yesterday.

Etihad Airways president and CEO James Hogan said: “The failure by the German Government to approve the codeshares in time, would severely, and possibly terminally, damage airberlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, of which Etihad Airways owns 29.2 per cent. The codeshare routes in question, including flights to our hub in Abu Dhabi, were among 65 previously approved by Germany’s civil aviation authority, the LBA, and a key reason that we invested in airberlin.

“Since 2012, our codeshare partnership has enabled more than two million passengers to connect between the networks of both airlines, and contributed 252 million euros to airberlin’s earnings. Etihad Airways has delivered 1,365,487 passengers to airberlin, while airberlin connected 645,157 passengers onto flights operated by Etihad Airways.”