Category Archives: Condor

Condor to resume its summer schedule on June 25

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Condor is relaunching its summer flight schedule in time for the start of the summer holiday season on June 25, 2020 from eight airports in Germany to initially 29 holiday destinations: Germany’s most popular leisure airline will be flying from Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich, Hamburg, Hanover, Stuttgart, Leipzig/Halle and Berlin-Schoenefeld to the most popular holiday regions, such as the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Greece, Croatia, Sardinia, Italy, Cyprus, Turkey and the North Sea island of Sylt as of the end of June.

Successive expansion of the current flight plan

Condor is currently offering flights from Frankfurt to Mallorca, Tenerife and Gran Canaria as part of our flight plan to ensure a basic infrastructure within Europe. This will be successively expanded as early as of mid-June: Additional flights to Majorca and the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura), Greece (Kos, Crete, Preveza, Rhodes, Thessaloniki), Andalusia (Jerez de la Frontera), Croatia (Split) and Sardinia (Olbia) will initially be served from Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich and Hamburg. Further destinations and the departure airports of Hanover, Stuttgart, Leipzig/Halle and Berlin-Schoenefeld will be added at the beginning of the summer holiday season on June 25, 2020.

Protective measures during the whole journey

As part of a package of measures introduced by the German air transport industry, airlines and airports are implementing a wide range of preventive protective measures for the entire air journey, from entering the terminal to the arrival at the destination: On board all Condor flights, too, mouth-and-nose protection is mandatory for guests and cabin crew until 31 August 2020. The air quality on board corresponds to that in operating theatres in a German hospital due to the direction of air flow and the filters installed. In addition to the service, the boarding and deboarding processes have also been adapted to the special situation, so that in future smaller groups will board and the number of buses to the aircraft will either be increased or, where possible, boarding at the building will be made possible. Customers are also asked to use online check-in. This will ensure that our customers have the highest level of protection during their journey. Guests are asked to behave prudently and in accordance with the hygiene regulations throughout their journey and to take into account the entry requirements of the respective destination and the regulations on their return to Germany.

Condor destinations for summer holiday season 2020:

  • Greece (14):Kalamata, Kavala, Corfu, Kos, Crete, Mykonos, Preveza, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, Volos, Zakynthos
  • Canary Islands (5):Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma
    Balearic Islands (2):Mallorca, Ibiza
  • Cyprus (2):Paphos, Larnaca
  • Andalusia:Jerez de la Frontera
  • Turkey:Antalya
  • Croatia:Split
  • Italy:Lamezia Terme
  • Sardinia:Olbia
  • Germany:Sylt

Condor aircraft photo gallery:

Polish Aviation Group (PGL) withdraws its offer to acquire Condor

Polish Aviation Group (PGL), the parent of LOT Polish Airlines, has announced it is withdrawing from its intention to acquire Condor.

Will Germany nationalize Condor?

Read more from Reuters.

Condor aircraft photo gallery:

Thomas Cook Aviation files for insolvency, 7 aircraft parked

Thomas Cook Aviation, former Air Berlin Aviation and Air Berlin Aeronautics, filed for insolvency (bankruptcy) after Condor cancelled the wet-lease contract with Thomas Cook Aviation (original contract was due to expire on December 31, 2021).

All flights have stopped and seven aircraft (5 A321s and 2 A320s) are now parked at Düsseldorf and Leipzig. All were operated for Condor in the Condor livery.

The airline was established in October 2017 as Air Berlin Aviation GmbH and was taken over by the Thomas Cook Group in order to facilitate rapid growth in Germany after the Air Berlin bankruptcy.

The Thomas Cook Group previously declared bankruptcy in September. However Thomas Cook Aviation continued onward until today.

Reuters: Germany is ready to nationalize Condor, operates repatriation flights

From Reuters:

“The German government stands ready to take over Condor as a deal for the airline to be bought by Polish rival LOT is likely to collapse in the industry turmoil caused by the coronavirus crisis, several people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

LOT agreed in January to buy Condor for about 300 million euros ($328 million) to create a leading European aviation group with more than 20 million passengers a year.

Above Copyright Photo: Rainer Bexten. Condor aircraft parked at Dusseldorf.

But with planes unable to fly because of travel restrictions, compounded by a plunge in demand over fears of contagion, airlines worldwide have grounded most of their fleets, and many have said they need government support to survive.

Last week, airlines urged governments to speed up bailouts to rescue the air transport industry, as they doubled their estimate of 2020 revenue losses from the health crisis to more than $250 billion.

LOT owner PGL has made completion of its takeover deal contingent on certain financial guarantees that the German government considers unacceptable, the sources said, adding no final decision on Condor’s immediate future had been taken.

“LOT has some issues with the deal financing”, one of the people said, while another said a government decision could come as early as this week.

Condor said it was in talks with all parties involved and no decision had been made yet, declining to comment further. PGL and the German economy ministry declined to comment.

Nationalizing Condor would only be for a limited time as Germany aims to restart a sales process as soon as the stranglehold on the travel industry from the coronavirus pandemic has eased, the sources said.”

In other news, Condor made this announcement:

 

Condor has brought almost 67,000 guests back to Germany in the past two weeks. As part of the Federal Foreign Office Airlift and in cooperation with tour operators, Germany’s most popular holiday airline is thus supporting the largest return fligh it operation German history. The return flight schedule of #homewithcondor continues to include classic tourist destinations such as Cuba and the Canary Islands, but also destinations that Condor does not actually fly to, such as Bali, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Honduras, Nicaragua, Thailand – and even Australia.

Tomorrow morning on Monday morning, a total of four Boeing 767s will land in Australia from Condor in Perth. More than 800 cruise passengers are on board, which Condor will bring home with a stopover in Phuket in close cooperation with the tour operator. The pure flight time from Perth to Frankfurt is expected to be around 20 hours.

For these special flights, the holiday airline has recently set up an aircraft and crew hub in Phuket, Thailand. Condor is also working flat out on further special flights to the Asia-Pacific, South America and Caribbean regions for the coming week, which will be continuously updated in the return flight schedule for the next 72 hours on www.condor.com/travel-updates.

“The largest return flight in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany is also a tour de force for Condor. Almost all the aircraft are in the air to bring as many guests home as possible as quickly as possible. At this point, I would like to pay a big compliment and my greatest respect to the German Foreign Office, which is coordinating this return operation, the tour operators – and of course to the Condor teams on the ground and in the air,” says Ralf Teckentrup, CEO of Condor. “We will also be operating further special flights this week and will maintain our own regular flight schedule with the destinations Seattle, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Jerez de la Frontera, which will ensure basic infrastructural services”.

Seattle is connected to more than 30 cities in the USA, such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, via the long-standing Condor partner airline Alaska Airlines, so that guests can start their journey home to Germany without any complications and US Americans who urgently need to get home from Europe can also fly on via Seattle.

Guests who are still abroad are asked to register with the German Foreign Office or at www.condor.com/fly-home. For all guests with a scheduled departure by April 30, 2020, Condor offers, among other things, a free rebooking of their ticket to any destination in the route network of Condor and its partner airlines at a time of their choice. If you do not want to commit to a date yet, you do not have to. This also applies to passengers with tickets to countries whose entry restrictions have not been extended.

Out of consideration for particularly urgent requests from guests abroad, we still ask that you only contact customer service if the original flight would have taken place within the next 72 hours, or if the respective guest is still abroad.

Condor aircraft photo gallery:

Condor announces flights from Düsseldorf to Cancun in winter 2020/21

Condor is introducing long-haul flights from Düsseldorf in the upcoming winter flight schedule: Condor will be flying from Düsseldorf to Cancun in Mexico every Tuesday and Saturday from 3 November 2020. This means that Condor will supplement the existing departure airports for long-haul flights, Frankfurt and Munich, in the 2020/21 winter flight schedule, while planning the inclusion of further long-haul destinations from Düsseldorf. Condor flies from Munich to Cancun as well as to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and is now also flying to Varadero in Cuba. Seattle will also be included in the program and will thus now be served from Munich all year around.

Condor is stationing a Boeing 767 in Düsseldorf for the winter flight schedule 2020/21, with which Germany’s most popular leisure airline takes off for Cancun every Tuesday and Saturday. The flights can be booked from 359.99 EUR per person and route.

Long-haul flights can also be booked from Munich, new: Varadero (Cuba), Seattle (USA) all year around.

As in the current winter and the upcoming summer flight schedule, Condor will continue to offer attractive long-haul destinations from Munich. In the 2020/21 winter season, the leisure airline will be flying three times a week to Punta Cana and twice a week to Cancun. In addition, the leisure airline will now also be flying once a week to Varadero in Cuba and will continue its summer connections to Seattle twice a week in the winter timetable.

Condor aircraft photo gallery:

Polish Aviation Group (PGL), the owner of LOT Polish Airlines, announces the acquisition of Condor

Polish Aviation Group (PGL), the owner of LOT Polish Airlines (LOT), announces the acquisition of Condor, putting a successful end to the protective shield proceedings.

  • PGL will ensure continued stability and certainty for customers, partners and employees
  • The combination of LOT and Condor within PGL creates one of the leading European aviation groups with Germany and Poland as core markets
  • Condor will become the centre of PGL’s leisure strategy with a focus on growth in Germany as well as adjacent markets, building one of the leading European leisure airlines
  • Going forward, Condor will continue to operate under the leadership of its successful management team and with its own brand as Germany’s most popular leisure airline, offering the same quality, service and reliability to its customers
  • The bridge financing provided by the KfW and guaranteed by the German Federal Government and the State of Hessen will be repaid in full

“The acquisition of Condor fits perfectly into PGL’s strategy. It also secures the future of Condor and offers stability and great opportunities to its employees, customers and business partners. We want to develop Condor’s iconic brand in Germany and also introduce it to other markets in Europe. We wholeheartedly welcome all Condor employees to the PGL family and invite them to build together one of the greatest aviation groups in Europe,” says Rafał Milczarski, President of the Management Board of PGL.

 

“We are pleased that Condor, Germany’s most popular leisure airline, has gained in PGL and LOT stable, experienced and dynamically developing partners who secure the future of our business. Together we will serve twice as many passengers, thus forming one of the largest aviation groups and the leading leisure airline group in Europe. Our partners and customers can safely plan their holiday flights with Condor,” says Ralf Teckentrup, Chief Executive Officer Condor.

The combination of LOT and Condor will create one of the leading European aviation groups carrying about 20 million passengers per year. Condor will continue to act under its current leadership while gaining from expanded connectivity and operational synergies between the airlines. Condor customers will continue to benefit from the quality, service and reliability of Condor, which have made the company the premier brand for leisure travel and the preferred partner for tour operators in Germany and beyond.

 

The offer to acquire Condor submitted by PGL has been selected as the most attractive for Condor, its employees, partners, suppliers and customers. The transaction is expected to close by April 2020 once customary antitrust approvals are obtained and Condor exits the protective shield proceedings. PGL’s investment will allow Condor to fully repay the loan received from KfW.

 

PGL is the leading aviation company in Central and Eastern Europe. PGL owns LOT Polish Airlines – one of the oldest and fastest growing carriers in Europe, with two dynamically developing hubs in Warsaw and Budapest. LOT operates on more than 120 routes with a strong footprint in Central and Eastern Europe, including 18 long-haul connections to North America and Asia. In 2019, LOT carried more than 10 million passengers, more than twice as many as 4 years before. It operates a fleet of 80 aircraft including 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. PGL group generated revenues of around 1.9 billion euros in 2019.

 

Condor has been flying its guests to the most beautiful holiday destinations in the world since 1956. Every year, around 9.4 million passengers fly with Condor from eight German airports to around 90 destinations in Europe, Africa and America. In the 2018/19 financial year, Condor Flugdienst generated an operating profit of around 57 million euros and sales of around 1.7 billion euros. Condor operates a fleet of more than 50 aircraft, which are maintained by its subsidiary Condor Technik according to the highest safety standards at its Frankfurt and Düsseldorf locations. According to a survey conducted by the German Institute for Service Quality on behalf of the news channel n-tv, Condor has repeatedly been named Germany’s most popular holiday airline for many years.

Condor Flugdienst issued this statement:

  • Polish Aviation Group (PGL), the owner of LOT Polish Airlines (LOT), announces the acquisition of Condor, putting a successful end to the protective shield proceedings
  • PGL will ensure continued stability and certainty for customers, partners and employees
  • The combination of LOT and Condor within PGL creates one of the leading European aviation groups with Germany and Poland as core markets
  • Condor will become the centre of PGL’s leisure strategy with a focus on growth in Germany as well as adjacent markets, building one of the leading European leisure airlines
  • Going forward, Condor will continue to operate under the leadership of its successful management team and with its own brand as Germany’s most popular leisure airline, offering the same quality, service and reliability to its customers
  • The bridge financing provided by the KfW and guaranteed by the German Federal Government and the State of Hessen will be repaid in full

“The acquisition of Condor fits perfectly into PGL’s strategy. It also secures the future of Condor and offers stability and great opportunities to its employees, customers and business partners. We want to develop Condor’s iconic brand in Germany and also introduce it to other markets in Europe. We wholeheartedly welcome all Condor employees to the PGL family and invite them to build together one of the greatest aviation groups in Europe,” says Rafał Milczarski, President of the Management Board of PGL.

“We are pleased that Condor, Germany’s most popular leisure airline, has gained in PGL and LOT stable, experienced and dynamically developing partners who secure the future of our business. Together we will serve twice as many passengers, thus forming one of the largest aviation groups and the leading leisure airline group in Europe. Our partners and customers can safely plan their holiday flights with Condor,” says Ralf Teckentrup, Chief Executive Officer Condor.

The combination of LOT and Condor will create one of the leading European aviation groups carrying about 20 million passengers per year. Condor will continue to act under its current leadership while gaining from expanded connectivity and operational synergies between the airlines. Condor customers will continue to benefit from the quality, service and reliability of Condor, which have made the company the premier brand for leisure travel and the preferred partner for tour operators in Germany and beyond.

The offer to acquire Condor submitted by PGL has been selected as the most attractive for Condor, its employees, partners, suppliers and customers. The transaction is expected to close by April 2020 once customary antitrust approvals are obtained and Condor exits the protective shield proceedings. PGL’s investment will allow Condor to fully repay the loan received from KfW.

PGL is the leading aviation company in Central and Eastern Europe. PGL owns LOT Polish Airlines – one of the oldest and fastest growing carriers in Europe, with two dynamically developing hubs in Warsaw and Budapest. LOT operates on more than 120 routes with a strong footprint in Central and Eastern Europe, including 18 long-haul connections to North America and Asia. In 2019, LOT carried more than 10 million passengers, more than twice as many as 4 years before. It operates a fleet of 80 aircraft including 15 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. PGL group generated revenues of around 1.9 billion euros in 2019.

Condor has been flying its guests to the most beautiful holiday destinations in the world since 1956. Every year, around 9.4 million passengers fly with Condor from eight German airports to around 90 destinations in Europe, Africa and America. In the 2018/19 financial year, Condor Flugdienst generated an operating profit of around 57 million euros and sales of around 1.7 billion euros. Condor operates a fleet of more than 50 aircraft, which are maintained by its subsidiary Condor Technik according to the highest safety standards at its Frankfurt and Düsseldorf locations. According to a survey conducted by the German Institute for Service Quality on behalf of the news channel n-tv, Condor has repeatedly been named Germany’s most popular holiday airline for many years.

Condor will retain its brand and name.

Condor aircraft photo gallery: