The air between Lufthansa and Condor has been thick for some time, because the crane terminated the cooperation in the area of ​​feeder flights. The holiday airline does not want to let that sit on itself and brought a complaint to the German Federal Cartel Office against the largest airline in Germany.

Condor accuses Lufthansa of abusing its dominant position. A spokeswoman confirmed the appeal to the Handelsblatt and stated: "This step has become necessary because Lufthansa has continued a broad strategy of abuse by exploiting its monopoly in domestic German traffic and its dominant position in European traffic".

Condor was once the "vacation department" of Lufthansa before the company was gradually sold to Thomas Cook. However, the cooperation between the two airlines remained intact in many areas. In the winter of 2020, the crane threatened to terminate the so-called “Special Prorate Agreement” if the Lot mother, PGL, should take over the vacation plane. This deal never came about, but the blue letter was sent to Condor anyway.

This hits the former subsidiary at an extremely awkward point in time, because it is very difficult if not almost impossible to find a replacement within Germany as well as from Austria and Switzerland. Almost all relevant connections are operated by airlines belonging to the Lufthansa Group. In addition, the demand is low anyway and the termination will take effect in June 2021, i.e. immediately before the 2021 holiday season, on which the entire industry is placing its hopes.

At Lufthansa you naturally see the matter completely differently, because in view of the crisis you primarily want to utilize your own aircraft. Condor needs the feeder services of the Kranich Group, which act as feeders for the long-haul flights. This is exactly where Lufthansa has something against it, because it obviously wants to get potential customers to switch to ocean long-haul aircraft. Ocean is the latest prestige project from CEO Carsten Spohr. By the way: Both Condor and Lufthansa were saved from collapse by the German state.