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Etihad raises its Europe profile with codeshares and equity, expanding indirect connections
Lufthansa is alone among Europe's Big Three legacy airline groups in not embracing Gulf competitors in some form (IAG codeshares with Qatar Airways, which it also brought into oneworld and which now also owns 10% of IAG: Air France-KLM codeshares with Etihad). By contrast, Lufthansa continues to be vocal about what it sees as unfair competition from Gulf-based airlines. Moreover, it withdrew from codeshare agreements with Turkish Airlines in 2013 (although the use of SunExpress to operate the new long haul Eurowings-branded routes suggests an improvement in its relationship with Turkish).
See related report: Lufthansa ends codesharing with Turkish Airlines. A full rift would mean new strategies for each
Perhaps the biggest threat: Lufthansa's protectionist instincts