Emirati and German officials are to meet to resolve a dispute over Etihad Airways’ codesharing agreement with Air Berlin that landed in a German court over the weekend.
Etihad was granted an injunction on Friday October 23 to temporarily continue selling seats on 29 Air Berlin flights that the German government has said it will no longer allow.
Etihad president and chief executive James Hogan told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday that regulators from the two countries will meet “to find a way forward.”
“There will be more talks between the two regulatory authorities... We will see what is the outcome of those talks,” he said.
The authorities are likely to be the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and Germany’s Ministry of Transport.
Hogan, who has led Etihad for the last 10 years, did not say when the officials will meet but said there would be another hearing in Germany to follow on from Friday’s injunction.
“We will work though the process,” he said.
Etihad had continued to sell tickets on Air Berlin, of which it is its single least shareholder, into the current winter schedule, which started on Sunday October 25, despite the German government having not approved the codeshare. Follow Friday’s injunction, the two airlines have been permitted to continue codesharing until January next year.
The German Ministry of Transport argues the existing bilateral agreement with the UAE does not include codeshare flights, although it had approved Etihad selling tickets on Air Berlin services for the past seven schedules. The UAE disagrees.
Hogan told reporters Etihad “made it very clear” it would be code-sharing with Air Berlin when it first invested in the airline that has reported a profit just once in the past seven years. He said codesharing is a “key pillar” to turn around Air Berlin and called on German officials to look into other airlines if Etihad is blocked.
“If they’re going to do this, they also need to look at the agreements that Lufthansa has in certain parts of the region to make sure the playing field is even,” he said.
In a speech earlier at the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) Aviation Day Middle East and Africa conference, Hogan said Etihad, and the other major Gulf carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways, “shouldn’t be seen as a threat.”
The Gulf carriers have increasingly faced attempts from legacy competitors to block them from expanding in Europe and North America.
“It’s about protectionism,” Hogan said.
Meanwhile, Hogan said Jet Airways “will announce good results in the coming days” and that Air Serbia will attain its second consecutive year of profitability in 2015. Etihad owns stakes in both carriers.
By Alexander Cornwell
