As part of its continued growth strategy, Germany’s largest commercial airline, Lufthansa, has made a non binding offer for U.K. travel giant Thomas Cook’s offshoot carrier Condor. According to a Lufthansa spokesperson: “We have made a non-binding offer for Condor, with the option of extending it to all Thomas Cook airlines.”
Thomas Cook has been looking to dispose of its airlines in a bid to turn the company’s fortunes round by concentrating investment in hotels and digitisation. Last year the Group’s airlines carried 20 million passengers and operated a fleet of 103 aircraft. While the airlines made an operating profit of £129 million (US$169 million), the Group, as a whole, made a loss.
Condor is an attractive proposition for Lufthansa while the German carrier looks to build up long-haul routes at its subsidiary, Eurowings. However, European regulators may not be so keen. In a bid to avoid competition concerns the European Commission placed limits on Lufthansa’s buyout of Air Berlin after it went bankrupt in 2017. Brussels Airlines and Germany-based LGW have already been swallowed up by the carrier.
Shares in Lufthansa were down 1.7 percent around 1230 in Frankfurt (1030 GMT) while Thomas Cook gained 11.7 percent in London.
