Etihad Aviation Group and TUI AG today confirmed they are in discussions to create a strong European leisure airline group, focused on point-to-point flying to connect key tourist markets.

It is proposed to contribute the touristic operations of the airberlin group and the German TUIfly company, including the aircraft currently operated by TUIfly for airberlin under a wet-lease agreement, into a new airline group established by TUI AG and Etihad Aviation Group. This new airline group would serve a broad network of destinations from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

The leisure airline group will be supported by the expertise of Etihad Aviation Group, the fastest-growing aviation group in the world, and utilise TUI’s state-of-the-art distribution capacity.  

TUI AG, Etihad Aviation Group and Air Berlin intend to finalise an in-principle agreement in due course. Any agreement entered into will be subject to all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals.

TUIfly is part of TUI Group, the world’s number one tourism business, with around 75,000 employees serving 30 million customers a year, across the globe. TUI Group has a portfolio of more than 300 hotels, 14 cruise liners, six European airlines with around 140 aircraft and a wide-reaching distribution network, covering more than 1,800 travel agencies and online portals.

Etihad Aviation Group is a fast-growing diversified aviation and travel group, with more than 26,000 employees. It comprises four business divisions – Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, Etihad Airways Engineering, the Hala Group, its destination management company, and the Airline Equity Partners. Etihad Aviation Group holds minority stakes in Air Berlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Etihad Regional, Jet Airways and Virgin Australia.

Airberlin is the second largest airline in Germany and carried more than 30.2 million passengers in 2015. airberlin offers a global route network through its strategic partnership with Etihad Airways, which has a 29.21 per cent shareholding in airberlin, and through membership of the oneworld airline alliance. - TradeArabia News Service