FRANKFURT, Oct 26 (Reuters) - TUI Travel and Air Berlin have moved closer together with a unit of Europe's largest tourism company acquiring a 9.9 percent stake in Germany's second-biggest airline as part of a broader link-up.
TUI Travel's Leibniz-Service GmbH bought 8.4 million shares in Air Berlin on Oct. 20 and now holds 9.9 percent of Air Berlin's voting rights, Air Berlin said on Monday.
Air Berlin and TUI Travel's German carrier, TUIfly, scrapped initial plans for a cross-shareholding in September while still pursuing a planned takeover of TUIfly's city carrier business by Air Berlin.
Shares in Air Berlin, the second-biggest airline in Germany after Deutsche Lufthansa, ended the trading day on Monday down 4.1 percent at 3.55 euros while TUI Travel shares closed down 1.2 percent.

($1=.6650 euros)

(Reporting by Eva Kuehnen) Keywords: AIRBERLIN/TUITRAVEL (eva.kuehnen@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1244; Reuters Messaging: eva.kuehnen.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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