Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline has made a non-bidding offer for Thomas Cook’s airline Condor Germany it has been confirmed by Lufthansa’s CEO during a general meeting in Bonn.
During the annual general meeting, the management board also decided on the option to extend this bid to the other airlines of the British travel group.
Thomas Cook own the Group Airline which consists of: Thomas Cook Airlines UK, Condor Germany, Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics. As a group it has a fleet of 103 aircraft and operates to numerous destinations.
The CEO of Thomas Cook, stated earlier this month that their airline business is of interest to many potential buyers, while 7 May was the deadline for the expression of interest in acquiring Group Airlines.
The acquisition of Condor could help Lufthansa to increase its strength within its portfolio, although some doubts have been raised over the age of some of the aircraft within Condor’s fleet.
Over the last few years Lufthansa has been active in consolidating its business, and not only within its home market. The airline was interested in Brussels Airlines, although ultimately this acquisition failed. Later, Lufthansa expressed an interest in Air Berlin in order to strengthen its budget brand Eurowings.
However, because of competition issues Lufthansa gave up on the idea of acquiring a larger slice of Air Berlin. So, there is a chance that if this acquisition goes ahead the airline could face another anti-trust scrutiny agreement.
