Category Archives: Condor

Thomas Cook Group shows profitable growth in a disrupted environment

Thomas Cook Group issued this report:

• Strong Airline profit growth of £35 million despite higher disruption cost

• Increased capacity with revenues growth of 10.1% to £3.5bn

• New airlines founded in Spain and Germany to support growth

Manchester/Frankfurt/Copenhagen – The Thomas Cook Group Airline has increased its underlying profit by 37% to £129 million for the financial year ending September 30, 2018. With an increase of available seats of 8.8% and a fleet of 100 aircraft overall revenues have grown by 10.1% to £3.5bn in the financial year 2017/18.

With the two brands Thomas Cook Airlines (in UK and Scandinavia) and Condor (in Germany), the Group Airline has carried over19 million passengers to over 120 destinations worldwide.

As part of the airline strategy for profitable growth, two new airlines have been set up in 2018. Based in Mallorca and Oberursel the new platforms provide greater operational flexibility at competitive costs, while better ensuring the quality and customer experience compared to third-party lease arrangements.

Peter Fankhauser, Chief Executive of Thomas Cook, said:

“Our Group Airline delivered strong growth in customers and profit, benefitting from increasing capacity in a turbulent European aviation sector.”

The pan-European airline could realize £31 million by implementing cost reduction measures that address synergies across its markets. The integration of the airline is well advanced with a consistent product, customer experience and management approach.

The European Aviation market was marked by disruption in Summer 2018 caused by delays of the registration of new aircraft, shortage on spare parts and an air traffic control system that was not fully prepared for the strong growth. This resulted in a substantial increase of irregularity cost (which include EU261 compensation costs, welfare, sub-charter and denied boarding costs) of £101 million in Summer 2018 vs. £49 million in Summer 2017.

The Group Airline has put several measures in place to optimize its operational performance, such as additional reserve aircraft, a streamlined aircraft basing with an all Airbus fleet in UK and Scandinavia and all Boeing aircraft operated in Germany and a dedicated team for customer communication in the case of a delay.

Condor to commence nonstop flights between Frankfurt and Phoenix

Condor Flugdienst, part of Thomas Cook Group Airlines, will begin new, seasonal nonstop service between Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and Frankfurt, Germany on May 18, 2018. The new flight is the only nonstop connection between Phoenix and Continental Europe. The seasonal service will run through September, 2018.

Beginning May 18, 2018, Condor will leave Phoenix Mondays at 8:55 p.m., arriving in Germany at 5:00 p.m. the following day. The flight will leave Frankfurt at 3:30 p.m., arriving Phoenix at 6:35 p.m. On Fridays Condor will leave Phoenix at 4:55 p.m., arriving in Frankfurt at 1:00 p.m. the next day. From Frankfurt, the flight will leave at 11:40 a.m. on Fridays, arriving Phoenix at 2:45 p.m.

The route will utilize a Boeing 767‐300ER aircraft and offer three classes of service: business, premium and economy. Introductory fares in economy class start as low as $399.99.

This is Thomas Cook Group Airlines’ latest new gateway in the U.S., having added Pittsburgh, San Francisco and New Orleans last summer to its existing gateways of Boston, Orlando, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle/Tacoma, Portland, Las Vegas, Austin, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Baltimore, Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Condor aircraft slide show:

SmartLynx signs a wet lease agreement with Condor for YL-LCQ

In December 2017 SmartLynx Airlines Ltd. signed a long-term wet lease agreement for 2018 with the German leisure airline Condor Flugdienst GmbH.

According to the agreement between SmartLynx and Condor, SmartLynx will wet lease to Condor a 220-seat Airbus A321-200 with the Latvian registration mark of YL-LCQ (msn 2211) from January 7, 2018 to March 31, 2018. The aircraft will operate from the base in Munich Airport (MUC), Germany.

The aircraft will fly to holiday destinations such as Rhodes, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Palma de Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Malaga, and Fuerteventura.

Condor is a new partner of SmartLynx.

In other news, in 2017 SmartLynx introduced a new livery, now applied to ES-SAM.

All photos by SmartLynx.

SmartLynx route map:

Video: YL-LCQ was previously operated for Thomas Cook Airlines:

Condor to fly seasonally to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt) will add seasonal service to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia starting on November 5, 2018. According to Airline Route, the new route will operate three days a week until April 22, 2019.

Condor:

Air Transat to start operating for Condor on November 5, 2018

Air Transat will start operating for Condor in November 2018 on two routes from Frankfurt with an Airbus A330-200. The Frankfurt – Punta Cana route will start on November 5, 2018 followed by Frankfurt – Varadero the following day per Airline Route.

Previously on October 2, 2017, Transat A.T. inc. and Thomas Cook Group Airlines announced the signing of a seven-year agreement for the exchange of aircraft on a seasonal basis. Under the terms of the agreement, Thomas Cook will make available every winter to Air Transat a number of narrow body Airbus A321s and will receive at least one wide-body Airbus A330-200 in return. This will enable both companies to manage and utilize their fleets more efficiently.

The agreement takes advantage of the different seasonality of the two companies: Air Transat uses a greater number of smaller aircraft in winter to serve its destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida, and larger aircraft in summer to serve the transatlantic market. In contrast, Thomas Cook uses smaller aircraft in summertime to fly to destinations around the Mediterranean Sea and larger wide-body aircraft in the winter to fly to the long-haul destinations like Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

Air Transat:

Condor to add Quito, Ecuador and return to New Orleans in 2018

Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt) is adding new twice-weekly Boeing 767-300 service from FRA to Santo Domingo and continuing to Quito, Ecuador starting on October 5, 2018.

As previously reported, Condor has also announced it will be returning to New Orleans and will be operating twice-weekly flights operating on Thursdays and Sundays from May 17, 2018, through September 30, 2018, between Frankfurt and New Orleans.

Flights on Thursdays and Sundays will depart New Orleans at 5:55 p.m. and arrive in Frankfurt the next day at 10:40 a.m., and depart Frankfurt at 11:50 a.m. on Thursdays and Sundays and arrive in New Orleans at 3:55 p.m. the same day.

Condor will operate 259-seat Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft.

Copyright Photo: Condor Flugdienst-Thomas Cook Boeing 767-3Q8 ER WL D-ABUP (msn 30048) LAS (James Helbock). Image: 935753.

Condor is coming to New Orleans and San Diego

https://airlinersgallery.smugmug.com/World-Airline-News/World-Airline-News-June-2016/i-JFRpNXv/A

Condor is coming to both New Orleans (May 3, 2017) and San Diego (May 1, 2017) from Frankfurt for next summer. Both new routes will be served twice-weekly with Boeing 767-300 ERs per Airline Route.

Copyright Photo: Condor Flugdienst-Thomas Cook Boeing 767-38E ER WL D-ABUS (msn 30840) YYZ (TMK Photography). Image: 929202.

Condor to fly from Austin, Texas to Frankfurt next summer

Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt) has announced in the summer of 2016 it will be flying between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) and Frankfurt International Airport (FRA). The seasonal flights are scheduled to operate on Mondays and Thursdays from June 27, 2016 through September 1, 2016. Austin is the third addition to Condor’s network in the United States within one year after launching nonstop service between Providence (PVD) and Portland (PDX) to Frankfurt, Germany this summer.

Flights are scheduled to depart Austin at 7:55 p.m. (1955) and arrive in Frankfurt at 1:10 p.m. (1310) the following day. Flights are scheduled to depart Frankfurt at 1:25 p.m. (1325) and arrive in Austin at 5:55 p.m. (1755), all times local. Flights will operate on Condor’s Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft with 259 seats (18 Business/35 Premium Class/206 Economy).

On an annual basis, 7 million passengers fly with Condor to around 75 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and America.

Since 2013, the German airline Condor is part of the Thomas Cook Group Airlines to which the Thomas Cook Airlines UK, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia also belong.

40 aircraft are in the Condor fleet: 12 Airbus A320s, 3 Airbus A321s, 13 Boeing 757-300s and 12 Boeing 767-300s.

Copyright Photo: Javier Rodriguez/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 767-38E ER D-ABUS (msn 30840) in the new 2013 livery arrives back at the FRA base.

Condor aircraft slide show:

Condor to add new long-haul weekly service from Munich next summer

Condor Flugdienst (Frankfurt) is planning to start new long-haul service from Munich commencing in June 2016 according to Airline Route. The carrier will add weekly flights to Cancun (starting on June 6, 2016), Halifax ( June 3, 2016), Havana (June 4, 2016), Windhoek (June 29, 2016) and Zanzibar-Mombasa (June 21, 2016).

The new routes will be operated with Boeing 767-300s.

Copyright Photo: Arnd Wolf/AirlinersGallery.com. Boeing 767-330 ER D-ABUE (msn 26984) taxies at the Munich with the special “Janosch and Condor support a Heart for Children” and “Sunny Heart” livery.

Condor aircraft slide show:

Is the end coming for Thomas Cook in the airline business?

Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel group, is considering selling its airline arm, Thomas Cook Group, as it continues to recover from its near-collapse in 2011.

According to the Independent, the company, which can trace its roots back to 1841 when Thomas Cook arranged for 500 people to travel between Leicester and Loughborough for a shilling, has reportedly sounded out potential buyers for the airline group. These are believed to include rival carriers and private equity investors, although no talks are currently taking place.

The holiday giant found itself under a mountain of debt in 2011 but has since axed jobs and shut high-street shops.

“We are always open for opportunities, which might include partnering with other partners/airlines,” it said in a statement.

However, it added: “We are very pleased with the development of our airlines. We have refurbished the cabins of our long-haul fleet and added long-haul aircraft to our Condor fleet in Germany and the UK. We see our airlines as an important part of our business.”

Thomas Cook AG currently has 88 active aircraft in it’s fleet, spanning 4 airlines: Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) (29) (Manchester), Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium (3) (Brussels), Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia (14) (Copenhagen-Oslo-Stockholm) and Condor Flugdienst (42) (Frankfurt), making it the 11th largest airline operator in Europe, and has ordered 25 new Airbus A321s (above) to replace older aircraft. However such moves could affect the order as well as result in airlines being shutting down or being rebranded.

The airline has refuted the conjecture in the UK media according to ch-aviation.

Could this be the end for the Thomas Cook we’ve come to know for so many years? Watch this space.

Read the full report: CLICK HERE

Assistant Editor Oliver Wilcock reporting from Manchester.

Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems/AirlinersGallery.com. Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) Airbus A321-211 WL G-TCDD (msn 6038) taxies to the gate at Palma de Mallorca.

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) aircraft slide show: