Ahead of an announcement expected from Etihad and Lufthansa tomorrow from Abu Dhabi,  details are starting to emerge regarding a deepening relationship between the 2 carriers.

Building on recent developments including Lufthansa’s take over of certain Air Berlin aircraft and routes in order to reduce the burden for Etihad (A large stake holder in AB), it appears now that Etihad is set to further seek Lufthansa’s assistance as it tries to re-sort itself.

Coming from various news outlets, including Bloomberg, it appears that Etihad is set to transfer their MRO operations (Maintenance / Repair / Overhaul) to Lufthansa Technik.   Additionally, Etihad will transfer their catering operation to Lufthansa’s LSG Skychefs.    There is also the potential for the relationship to expand to include Lufthansa handling much of Etihad’s security and ground services in certain parts of the world where both airlines are present.  I expect we’ll find out the timing of these transactions during tomorrow’s event.

There has also been some chatter regarding the potential of Etihad joining Star Alliance, but that seems to be a bit of a stretch at this point based on Etihad’s involvement with other partners that are in direct competition with Star Alliance.   But one never knows what can be announced.

There may be more to the announcement tomorrow, so you may see a follow up to this post.