The German Ministry of Transport says it has given Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) and equity partner Air Berlin (1991) (Berlin Tegel) permission to operate their proposed Winter 2015/16 codeshare schedule until January 15, 2016.
Etihad had earlier secured a temporary court injunction against the German government allowing it to codeshare with Air Berlin until November 8. However, according to Reuters, the Ministry says despite the ruling, the added period will allow both carriers time to restructure their codeshares to, among other things, interline agreements.
"Etihad Airways has for the last and final time been awarded the right to these code shares until January 15, 2016, in order to ensure that passengers who have already bought tickets are not inconvenienced," the spokesman said.
Though Berlin has approved all sixty-five of Etihad's requested codeshare routes with Air Berlin since 2012, last year it suddenly rejected applications for twenty-nine on the grounds they weren't covered by the terms of Germany's Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Given the Ministry of Transport's delays in approving Etihad's application for the IATA 2015/2016 winter season, the UAE-based carrier says it was then forced to resort to the courts "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."
Etihad CEO James Hogan has warned of serious damage to Germany's economic ties with other countries should his airline indeed be forced to end its codeshare agreements with Air Berlin.
"Connectivity will be lost or diminished to a range of destinations throughout the Middle East, Indian sub-continent, Asia and Australia, as these codeshare flights are directly linked to Etihad Airways' services beyond Abu Dhabi International," he said. "Business people, tourists and families travelling between these destinations and Germany will be faced with less choice and higher costs."
