The holiday airline Condor intends to fly between Germany and Lebanon in the 2022 summer flight schedule. However, no bilaterally agreed frequencies have been allocated at present. The German Ministry of Transport is currently trying to agree this for Condor with the authorities in Beirut.

A letter from the German Ministry of Transport available to Aviation.Direct shows that it is currently agreed that the airlines Lufthansa, Sundair and Eurowings will be allowed to fly between the two countries in the 2022 summer flight schedule. The crane is allocated 14 frequencies per week, Sundair five and Eurowings two. The competitor Condor does not currently have any, but independently sells flight tickets from German airports to Beirut.

On February 16, 2022, the German Federal Ministry of Transport addressed the counterpart in Lebanon in a letter available to Aviation.Direct. In this one asks for the approval that the weekly frequencies are increased by five to 26. Condor is not mentioned by name in this letter. Also, the carrier does not appear at all in the previous letter, in which the allocation of weekly usage is shown.

The airline Eurowings, which already has allocated route rights in its pocket, told Aviation.Direct that they would be used as follows: "Eurowings will serve the Düsseldorf-Beirut and Berlin-Beirut routes once a week". Sundair and Lufthansa have also declared that the frequencies allocated will be used in full in the 2022 summer timetable.

Tickets on sale but no track rights yet

The current state of affairs is therefore that Condor sells tickets for Beirut flights, but does not yet have bilaterally agreed frequencies for them. Confronted with this, the holiday airline was taciturn and referred to the German Federal Ministry of Transport. A spokeswoman described the explicit follow-up question as to whether the passengers would get their money back if Condor did not get the necessary rights, as a “very speculative question” and referred again to the ministry. In terms of content, Condor did not comment at all on the questions asked in connection with the Beirut flights.

From circles of the German Federal Ministry of Transport it can be heard that there should have been a kind of pressure from Condor that the route rights should be obtained. Immediately after the inquiries from Aviation.Direct, the officials were said to have contacted Condor, according to circles of the leisure airline.

In contrast to Condor, the German Federal Ministry of Transport was more willing to provide information and issued the following written statement: "The Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport has concluded air traffic agreements with the vast majority of all countries and made agreements on traffic rights in negotiations or correspondence. When assessing whether changes are necessary with regard to air traffic with countries outside the European Union (excluding those with comprehensive EU agreements that have come into force), knowledge from contacts with the air traffic industry, in particular their associations, is also used. In the case of Lebanon, the need to adjust traffic rights was recognized some time ago. However, various factors, including most recently the COVID19 pandemic, have meant that a new agreement has not yet been reached. So a new attempt was made."

Lebanon's approval is still pending

From the statement by the German Federal Ministry of Transport it can also be deduced that the mills in Lebanon can grind quite slowly and at the time the media office of the office responded it was still uncertain whether the Lebanese authorities would agree to the increase to 26 frequencies per week. It is therefore not certain that Condor will receive the necessary rights for the 2022 summer flight schedule. As previously mentioned, a spokeswoman for the leisure airline described the theoretical possibility of non-receipt as a "very speculative question".

The German Federal Ministry of Transport explains the fact that tickets are already being sold, but the frequencies have not yet been agreed bilaterally, as follows: “The aviation companies always need a lead time in order to set up scheduled connections and operate them economically. Therefore, the company's own internal plans are often placed in the press and stored in the usual accounting systems, correctly with a reference to the pending government approval. The risk of having to cancel tickets already sold and possibly have to pay compensation if an agreement between the civil aviation authorities does not come about lies with the individual company.

It therefore remains to be seen whether or not the ministry will succeed in agreeing the additional frequencies necessary for the planned Condor flights with Lebanon. In any case, Condor is relaxed on social media and writes, among other things, “Yes, we will fly to Beirut in the summer”. The Lebanese Ministry of Transport declined to comment publicly on the matter.