Last month Etihad and Lufthansa announced they would greater enhance their partnership. Things are moving pretty fast and we will be seeing more and more results of the partnership as time goes on.

If you missed the announcement, here is what the airlines will be doing:

• Etihad signed a four year 100 million US dollar contract to use LSG catering everywhere outside of their home base of Abu Dhabi
• Etihad will now arrive and depart from Lufthansa’s terminals in both Frankfurt and Munich, which could mean First and Business passengers could use their respective lounges
• Etihad will now use Lufthansa Technik for all repairs and maintenance as well as it’s airline equity partners
• Codeshared flights between Frankfurt, Munich and Abu Dhabi will go on sale from February 1. Further routes will follow in the future

There were a few things people wanted to know from the announcement and here are some greater details:

• Etihad will move from T2 to T1 in Frankfurt from March 26th
• Etihad will be closing it’s lounge in T2
• Etihad First Class Guests, Platinum and Partner airline equivalent members will use the Lufthansa Senator lounge in T1
• Etihad Business Class guests, Gold and Partner airline equivalent members will use the Lufthansa Business Class lounge in T1.

These are quite major changes for the airline and from what I’ve seen, the lounge is a little bit of a downgrade for Business Class passengers and Gold members. The Etihad First & Business lounges are generally great and it’s sad to see it getting closed down.