TUI fly (Germany) (X3, Hannover) parent, TUI Group, is set to divest itself from Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) when it disposes of its last remaining shares in the company later this year. A report in German business paper, WirtschaftsWoche, said TUI had reduced its stake in Air Berlin from 9.9% to less than 4% early last month.
In 2009, TUI Travel and Air Berlin signed a strategic partnership agreement in which the airline and TUIfly were to have purchased 19.9% of the other's stock.
While the equity swap did not happen, Air Berlin did take over all of TUIfly's domestic German routes as well as those to Italy, Croatia and Austria. In addition, it signed a lease agreement in which TUIfly will wet-lease a fleet of five B737-700s and nine B737-800s to Air Berlin through 2019.
