Etihad confirm talks to merge Air Berlin assets with TUIfly

Dubai: Etihad Aviation Group, the parent company of Etihad Airways, confirmed on Wednesday that it is in talks to merge Air Berlin's touristic operations with a subsidiary of Europe's TUI AG to form "a strong European leisure airline group."

The new airline would serve a "broad network of destinations from Germany, Austria and Switzerland,"  Etihad said in a statement. 

The two groups have proposed contributing the "touristic operations" of Air Berlin with TUI's German subsidiary TUIfly "into a new airline group established by TUI AG and Etihad Aviation Group," the statement said.