Darwin Airline (Lugano) CEO Maurizio Merlo says he expects his airline's tie-up with Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) to be given the greenlight by Switzerland's Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) by the end of the month.
Following the announcement of Etihad's plan to acquire a 33% stake in Darwin in November last year, FOCA, in June, directed the Abu Dhabi-based carrier to amend its proposal to ensure that the majority 66.7% stake in Darwin would be retained by Swiss investors and that their interests would not be compromised.
Earlier this week, Merlo told Reuters that the Emirati carrier has now made several concessions in order to get the deal approved including the scrapping of a monitoring agreement over the airline’s quality and safety and the relinquishing of a role in the appointment of Darwin top management.
“We have done this change,” Merlo said at a media event in Zurich. “We have provided FOCA [with] the new version of contract and for now we are waiting for the reply from FOCA. According to our indications, it should be by the end of this month.”
The European Commission (EC), which is also looking into the deal as part of a broader investigation into Etihad's acquisition of stakes in European carriers, has yet to disclose any of its provisional findings.
