At the end of last year a court had revoked approval for a number of its codeshare services with the German carrier, but Etihad appealed against the decision.
In a statement the Gulf carrier said that the appeals court had “definitively ruled” that 26 of the 31 disputed codeshares are lawful, meaning that Etihad can continue to place its code on 76 of the 81 Air Berlin routes originally applied for.
The court ruled that the codeshare services may not continue on five German domestic routes, but Etihad welcomed the ruling, and CEO James Hogan said that it was “a victory for consumers and competition in Germany”.
“We remain strongly committed to our strategic partner, airberlin, and will redouble our efforts to provide a strong competitive alternative to the dominant German carrier, Lufthansa,” said Hogan.
“We would like to encourage German consumers to support airberlin and its 8,000 staff, who have been seriously damaged by this sustained attack on their business.”
