Etihad to create European leisure airline group with TUI

KUALA LUMPUR: The Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) board has approved plans to create a new European leisure airline group in a joint venture with TUI AG.

The joint venture, with a fleet of around 60 aircraft, will offer 15 million seats per year, focusing on point-to-point flying to connect key European tourist markets.

The transaction was subject to approvals by aviation regulatory bodies and anti-trust authorities, said EAG in a statement yesterday.

The planned transaction includes an agreement for EAG’s subsidiary Etihad Investment Holding Company LLC (Etihad) to acquire a 49.8 per cent stake indirectly held by airberlin in its subsidiary airline NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH.

At closing of the transaction, Etihad will immediately contribute the share in NIKI to the new European leisure airline group and will not effectively control, or become a majority owner of NIKI.

TUI will contribute its subsidiary TUIfly GmbH to the joint venture, including the 14 aircraft currently operated by TUIfly for airberlin under a wet-lease agreement.

TUI will hold 24.8 per cent of shares in the joint-venture company, with Etihad holding a 25 per cent stake. The remaining 50.2 per cent will continue to be held by the existing private foundation NIKI Privatstiftung. The new leisure airline group, headquartered in Vienna, is scheduled to begin operations in April next year.

It will serve a broad network of destinations in Germany and Austria and Switzerland, such as Hanover, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Nuremberg, Baden-Baden, Hamburg, Basel and Vienna.

The joint venture will be supported by the expertise of EAG, the fastest-growing aviation group in the world, and TUI Group, the world’s leading tourism business with a strong focus on hotels and cruises.