Airberlin-Etihad: the loss of 29 codeshare routes endangers competition in Germany, says Etihad

In Dec-2015, the Administrative Court of Braunschweig upheld a decision by the German Ministry of Transport to deny approval of 29 codeshare routes between loss-making airberlin and its biggest shareholder Etihad. The affected routes are among those that had previously been approved, but the Ministry first raised concerns in the summer of 2014, following lobbying by Lufthansa. Germany's federal aviation authority Luftfahrt Bundesamt (LBA) had rejected 34 airberlin/Etihad codeshares in Oct-2014 for operation in winter 2014/2015, but then reversed its decision.

However, in Nov-2015, it approved the 29 codeshares only until 15-Jan-2016. Both Etihad and airberlin are launching a further legal appeal. The dispute relies on different interpretations of the air services agreement between Germany and the United Arab Emirates, in particular the codeshare provisions. The anti-Gulf lobby, led in Germany by Lufthansa, has seized upon the apparent ambiguity in the agreement to damage its biggest German competitor.

Without such approval, airberlin risks the loss of traffic feed, leading to lower load factors and revenues. Etihad CEO James Hogan said in Oct-2015 that the loss of codeshare approval on the affected routes would "severely, and possibly terminally damage airberlin".