Etihad Airways has acquired 70 percent of the airberlin topbonus frequent flyer program resulting in a new loyalty management company being established by Etihad Airways called topbonus Limited, which will be headquartered in Berlin.

Air Berlin sees the move as a way to financially restructure their business and improve their liquidity and equity capital resources.

Etihad sees the investment as a good one for the Gulf carrier because the loyalty program sector is seen as a faster growing and higher margin business than the airline industry.

Topbonus has about 3.1 million members, and Etihad Guest about 1.82 million