Etihad takes close look at Air Berlin stake
26 December 2008Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is considering an investment in Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline.
The company’s senior management has been intensively studying the idea for several weeks; no decision has been made.
The German carrier has a well-established, dense and non-centered European and domestic network currently served by a fleet of 112 aircraft. Its biggest bases are Duesseldorf and Berlin — two airports that Etihad does not serve. To a limited degree, Air Berlin could feed Etihad’s Munich services and to an even lesser degree its Frankfurt departures. Slot constraints make reshaping of the network difficult to achieve.
source: aviationweek.com