Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and airberlin, Europe’s sixth biggest carrier, on Thursday started the sale of joint code-share flights.
It follows last month’s historic announcement that Etihad Airways would become airberlin’s largest single shareholder.
Using an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, airberlin will operate four flights a week between Berlin and Abu Dhabi from January 15.
Etihad Airways will place its EY code on these flights, providing European travellers with immediate access to a total of 29 flights a week to and through Abu Dhabi from four German hubs in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, with a plan to increase to 42 flights from mid-April.
Part of the new strategic partnership will see airberlin place its AB code on Etihad Airways flights from Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich to Abu Dhabi and on Etihad Airways’ flights from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok, Malé and Singapore.
Etihad Airways will in turn code-share on airberlin flights to Basel, Berlin, Catania, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Hannover, Helsinki, Milan, Rome, Stuttgart, Venice and Zurich.
Additional code-share destinations will be announced in the coming weeks, subject to government approvals.