NEU-ISENBURG (dpa-AFX) - The holiday airline Condor expects conditions to improve again in just a few weeks' time if its passengers want to use Lufthansa feeder flights. The European Union will instruct Lufthansa to bring Condor passengers to the Frankfurt hub under the previous conditions, said the head of the holiday airline, Peter Gerber. The EU competition regulators announced a corresponding step this week. Gerber said that in comparable cases it had taken four to six weeks for the decision to be implemented.
Lufthansa ended the special conditions for Condor guests in December 2024. The background to this is an antitrust dispute between the two airlines in Germany, the main action of which is still pending before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. However, the Federal Court of Justice has ruled that Lufthansa may terminate the contract, which was already terminated in 2020, before a legally binding judgment is handed down.
EU fears crowding out
The EU has now expressed serious concerns that competition over the North Atlantic could deteriorate for customers if Condor is no longer able to access Lufthansa feeder flights to the usual extent. The EU officials wrote that Condor could be forced out of the market. Since August 2024, the Commission has been conducting antitrust proceedings against Lufthansa and its partners United and Air Canada, which have been legally coordinating prices and offers for flights to North America for years in the A++ joint venture. The Lufthansa Group still wants to comment on this in a hearing.
Condor can currently only book seats on Lufthansa aircraft for their transfer passengers at far less favorable conditions than before. According to the airline, the main problem is the reduced availability of seats. According to Gerber, only around 20 percent of the previous volume is currently available. However, nothing will change for customers. They will continue to be fully protected in the event of missed connections, for example.
Metropolises instead of the beach
In response to the decline in feeder services, Condor has already canceled some connections to North America for the summer season and increased its own feeder flights to other German and European cities. According to Gerber, this meant foregoing growth to tourist destinations in Europe. The long-haul flights of the former Lufthansa subsidiary now fly more frequently to Panama, South Africa and Thailand./ceb/DP/stw