Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

A German court on Wednesday upheld a government decision to withdraw code share rights between Eithad Airways and Air Berlin on 29 flights through the end of its winter schedule, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Persian Gulf airline and a pledge to appeal the decision. Etihad holds a 29.2 percent stake in Air Berlin.

 


“The social and economic damage to Germany by this decision is significant,” said Etihad in a written statement. “The withdrawal of approval for code share services on 29 routes materially reduces competition and consumer choice within and beyond Germany and causes inconvenience to passengers.”

 


In October Etihad won an injunction allowing it to continue operating all its code-share flights with Air Berlin to the 29 destinations in Europe, the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates. At the time, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure had still not approved Etihad’s code-sharing agreements for services during the IATA winter 2015/2016 schedule, which began October 25.

 


Although the injunction lasted until only November 8, the German government said the two carriers could continue their cooperation until January 15, giving it another 11 weeks to resolve differences with the UAE over what Etihad characterized as a unilateral change of opinion in 2014 by Germany’s Ministry of Transport concerning the code-share provisions of their bilateral air services agreement.

 


Since 2012, Germany’s civil aviation authority, the LBA, and the Ministry of Transport have approved seven Etihad Airways schedules, including all of its code shares with Air Berlin, on the basis of the Air Services Agreement signed by the UAE and Germany in March 1994 and the Agreed Minutes and Revised Route Schedule signed in June 2000, said the airline. This year, however, the German government decided the bilateral agreement between the UAE and Germany did not cover Air Berlin’s code-share flights with&nbsp;Etihad.

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