TUI Travel Buys Stake in Air Berlin

TUI Travel PLC, one of Europe’s largest tourism companies, has acquired 8.4 million shares in Air Berlin and now owns 9.9 percent of the airline. Air Berlin is Germany’s second-biggest airline behind Lufthansa. TUI Travel already owns Germany’s third-biggest airline, TUIfly.

In September, Air Berlin and TUIfly scrapped plans for a cross-shareholding deal. However, the two carriers did forge ahead with a deal in which Air Berlin assumed operations of TUIfly’s city routes, enabling TUIfly to focus on the vacation market.