Etihad Aviation Group and Lufthansa Group expand cooperation to include catering and MRO
Etihad Aviation Group and Lufthansa announced (01-Feb-2017) the following details of a new commercial partnership:
- LSG Sky Chefs will provide catering services to Etihad Airways in 16 cities in Europe, Asia and the Americas under a four-year USD100 million agreement. LSG will be Etihad's largest catering provider outside Abu Dhabi;
- Etihad Aviation Group and Lufthansa Technik signed a MoU to explore cooperation in MRO services across Etihad Airways and its airline equity partners and to explore opportunities for synergies with Etihad Airways Engineering;
- Etihad Airways and Lufthansa are exploring further cooperation in other areas, including freight operations, procurement and passenger services;
- Sales for Abu Dhabi-Frankfurt and Abu Dhabi-Munich codeshare services commenced on 01-Feb-2017 and the agreement will be extended to Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro and Frankfurt-Bogota services, subject to government approval. Etihad Airways will move operations from terminal two to terminal one at Frankfurt Airport and from terminal one to terminal two at Munich Airport to facilitate connectivity and customer experience under the agreement;
- Operations under the six year wet lease agreement between airberlin and Eurowings, signed in Dec-2016, will commence on 10-Feb-2017. Under the agreement, airberlin will wet lease 33 aircraft to Eurowings and five to Austrian Airlines.
Etihad Aviation Group president and CEO James Hogan said, "Partnerships are at the heart of our strategy and remain fundamental for us to compete effectively and efficiently in a complex and competitive global market," and described the Lufthansa partnership as: "undoubtedly the most significant non-equity partnership with an airline we have ever announced." Lufthansa Group chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr said: "Partnering with the Etihad Aviation Group fits perfectly the Lufthansa Group's global strategy for our passenger airlines and service companies." [more - original PR] [more - original PR - English/German] [more - original PR - LSG]