Germany has backtracked on a decision blocking Etihad from selling tickets on its partner airline Air Berlin, according to reports in the German media.
Earlier this week, Germany's federal aviation authority Luftfahrt-Bundesamt blocked the sale of 34 codeshare flights by Etihad operated by Air Berlin. They included 20 destinations in Europe and North America from Berlin Tegel and flights from Tegel and Stuttgart to Abu Dhabi (see news, October 13).
Etihad owns 29 per cent of Air Berlin and authorities said they were concerned about the amount of control that the Abu Dhabi-based airline was exercising as it contravened the country's Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with the UAE.
Air Berlin told Reuters that the codeshare had been approved for the winter season, but German newspaper Handelsblatt said this was only temporary. The dispute may have been stoked by Lufthansa, which announced this week that it was withdrawing its Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi flights from March 29, blaming over-capacity.
Gary Noakes
