Etihad Airways may have stolen a march on its Gulf rivals when it took a stake in Germany's second-biggest airline Air Berlin, obtaining access to the German capital. But the Abu Dhabi carrier could find itself hampered by the airline's financial troubles.
The move by eight-year-old Etihad, one of the United Arab Emirates' flag carriers and owned by the Abu Dhabi government, is an attempt to gain scale quickly as it bids to catch up to rivals such as Dubai government-owned Emirates EMIRA.UL and Qatar Airways.
Last month, Etihad raised its stake in Air Berlin to nearly 30 percent from just under 3 percent, paying approximately 73 million euros (60.5 million pounds) and lending the carrier $255 million (163 million pounds). In return, Etihad received a codeshare agreement giving it access to Air Berlin's dense European short-haul route network and to the German capital ahead of Emirates, one of the fastest-growing carriers in the world, which has been lobbying for years to get into Berlin.
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