Court ruling definitive on Etihad Airways-airberlin codeshare dispute

[Ethiopia]

Court ruling definitive on Etihad Airways-airberlin codeshare dispute (http://aviationtribune.com/airlines/europe/item/3186-court-ruling-definitive-on-etihad-airways-airberlin-codeshare-dispute)

[Heathrow Harry]

Etihad Airways (http://aviationtribune.com/etihad) today welcomed the ruling by the higher administrative court in Luneburg reversing an earlier judgment and allowing it to continue operating 26 out of the 31 codeshare flights for the full Winter Schedule, which ends on 26 March 2016.


The court definitively ruled that 26 of the 31 codeshares are lawful. Together with the other 50 approved codeshares with airberlin (http://aviationtribune.com/airberlin), 76 of the 81 codeshares are now approved once and for all, that is 94 per cent of the codeshares applied for. The other five codeshares are on German domestic routes.

The court's interpretation of the UAE-Germany Air Services Agreement also means that Etihad Airways (http://aviationtribune.com/etihad) will be able to continue with all those codeshares beyond the Winter Schedule.

Etihad Airways (http://aviationtribune.com/etihad) President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan, said:
"We are pleased with the ruling which confirms 94 per cent of Etihad Airways (http://aviationtribune.com/etihad)’ codeshares. This ruling is a victory for consumers and competition in Germany. We remain strongly committed to our strategic partner, airberlin (http://aviationtribune.com/airberlin), and will redouble our efforts to provide a strong competitive alternative to the dominant German carrier, Lufthansa (http://aviationtribune.com/lufthansa). We would like to encourage German consumers to support airberlin (http://aviationtribune.com/airberlin) and its 8,000 staff, who have been seriously damaged by this sustained attack on their business."



Stefan Pichler, airberlin (http://aviationtribune.com/airberlin) Chief Executive Officer, said:
"This is a good result for airberlin (http://aviationtribune.com/airberlin). We're delighted with the decision and regard it as confirmation of our current approach. The verdict sends a positive signal to our consumers and is a victory for increased competition in the German aviation market, meaning that German passengers can continue to enjoy freedom of choice. Based on this decisive ruling, airberlin (http://aviationtribune.com/airberlin) and Etihad Airways (http://aviationtribune.com/etihad) can face the future optimistically and will continue to grow their partnership in a sustainable manner."

[AerRyan]

Whats the background to this ruling?

[Heathrow Harry]

from the "Australian":-

Etihad Airways has scored a victory against the German government after a ban to operate 29 of its codeshare flights with Air Berlin was overturned.

The Administrative Court of Braunschweig had ruled in December that the German Ministry of Transport was entitled to reject the codeshares because they were not covered by a traffic rights agreement between Germany and the United Arab Emirates.


The decision prohibited the codeshares from being operated between January 16 and the end of March, but an appeals court has now overturned that decision and definitively ruled the codeshares are lawful.


Etihad, which owns 29.2 per cent of Air Berlin, Germany’s *second-largest airline after Luft*hansa, welcomed the ruling.
“This ruling is a victory for *consumers and competition in Germany. We remain strongly committed to our strategic partner, Air Berlin, and will redouble our efforts to provide a strong competitive alternative to the dominant German carrier, Lufthansa,” said Etihad Airways president and chief executive James Hogan.
“We would like to encourage German consumers to support Air Berlin and its 8000 staff, who have been seriously affected by this sustained attack on their *business.”


Air Berlin chief executive Stefan Pichler said he was delighted with the new ruling. “The verdict sends a positive signal to our consumers and is a victory for increased competition in the German aviation market, meaning that German passengers can continue to enjoy freedom of choice,” he said.
The decision did not affect another 50 codeshares operated between the two airlines. If the court decision had stood, it would have been a serious blow to the strategic ambitions of Etihad.