Germany says still no agreement on Air Berlin-Etihad code share

BERLIN (Reuters) - Time is running out for Germany and the United Arab Emirates to reach a deal on code sharing between Air Berlin and Etihad, with no agreement yet for the winter schedule.

Code share agreements allow airlines to sell tickets for flights operated by partners, enabling both to offer more destinations to their customers.

Air Berlin's winter schedule, including 65 code share flights with Etihad, is due to begin on Oct. 25. The German government approved the code shares for last winter and this summer but has yet to agree to the upcoming schedule.

The current agreement between the two countries restricts where Etihad can fly to within Germany and Air Berlin's home hub is not among the four German airports that it has access to.

"The legal position is and will remain clear. The current air traffic agreement between Germany the UAE does not permit all the code shares that have been requested," a transport ministry spokesman said.

The government is scrutinising 29 code share routes between cities such as Berlin and Stuttgart to Abu Dhabi.

Air Berlin gets about 140 million euros (103 million pounds) in annual revenue from code share flights.

In a letter to the transport ministry seen by Reuters, worker representatives at Air Berlin said the income from the code sharing helps to offset the air passenger tax paid by Air Berlin to the government each year and that if the code share flights were not approved the future of Air Berlin could be in danger.

The transport ministry said that efforts to find a solution had been rejected by the UAE but that it remained open to talks. An Air Berlin spokesman said the company would release a statement only when a final decision on the code shares had been reached.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)