The German leisure airline Condor actually wanted to offer three destinations from Berlin-Brandenburg Airport in the 2023/24 winter flight schedule. This plan has been pushed back indefinitely.

A few days ago, the sale of flights from Berlin to Dubai, Hurghada and Agadir was discontinued. The routes were initially "zeroed out" and then they disappeared from the system. There is a good reason for this, because Condor will not be offering the destinations mentioned from Berlin-Brandenburg at the beginning of the 2023/24 winter timetable period.

There are also changes in Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Hamburg. Destinations that were previously offered under Condor flight numbers (DE) will be marketed as Marabu flights (DI) at least in the upcoming 2023/24 winter period. Coming from the Bavarian and Baden-Württemberg airports Airbus A320 operated by the Bulgarian European Air Charter.

In Berlin, Condor has repeatedly made attempts that should lead to a re-establishment in the cold season. These were not crowned with success and this time the comeback is canceled before the first flight. Originally, five weekly rotations to Dubai and Hurghada had been announced. It should go to Agadir at least once a week.

Eurowings could not fully compensate for Ryanair and Easyjet cuts

Berlin-Brandenburg Airport has an extremely high low-cost share in direct comparison with other airports where Condor operates. It is well known in the airline industry that passengers in the catchment area of ​​the capital's airport are considered to be quite price-sensitive. This is not necessarily because purchasing power is extremely low, but possibly also because potential customers have benefited from fierce competition among low-cost airlines in recent years in the form of cheap tickets. Added to this is the fact that both Ryanair and Easyjet criticize the high fees of BER from their point of view and have thinned out the offer. That is increased Eurowings, but not to the extent that partial withdrawal of Easyjet could have fully compensated.

Condor is not very talkative about the exact reasons for the cancellation of the BER winter flights. It is said that there would be capacity bottlenecks or that precisely such situations would be avoided. However, there is no talk of a final rejection, only of the fact that the Berlin comeback is being postponed. A new date was not mentioned, so it is time indefinitely.

Vienna comeback canceled in summer 2024

By the way, it was not known whether Condor will fly again from Vienna-Schwechat in the summer flight schedule 2024 also still open. First of all, those destinations that are offered from the Austrian capital in the current summer period are sometimes not included. The company told Aviation.Direct, among other things, that it was still in the final vote. The presence in Vienna has not yet been completely canceled. Now the Vienna presence in the 2024 summer flight schedule has been completely canceled without further explanation. However, the option to fly again from the Austrian capital at a later date is kept open.

Those routes that Condor has in its portfolio for the current 2023 summer period are considered to be particularly competitive. After Heraklion, Palma de Mallorca and Rhodes you have several competitors. Including Austrian Airlines and at least partly Wizz Air and Greek carriers. Condor wanted to market itself particularly strongly through tour operators, but this plan does not seem to have worked out as the German airline had hoped. Since the three destinations were served with low frequency, it can be expected that the competition will quickly compensate for the lost capacity.

Generally unaffected are transfer connections where Condor uses the won feeder flights, which are carried out by the Lufthansa Group. Long-haul flights are also offered in this form from Vienna, for example, but you have to change trains in Frankfurt am Main, for example.