Litigation
Condor slashes North America program
To fill its long-distance flights, Condor has previously been able to rely on Lufthansa supplier flights. But the conditions have changed suddenly.
The holiday airline Condor is trimming its North American program for the summer because fewer passengers are expected to be brought by Lufthansa to the Frankfurt hub. The background to this is a decision by the Federal Court of Justice, which made a preliminary decision in favor of the Lufthansa Group in a legal dispute between the airlines that lasted for years. After this, the Kranich airline is currently no longer obliged to transport Condor guests to Frankfurt on the competitor’s long-distance flights at preferential rates.
A new agreement, for which Lufthansa had made a proposal and set a deadline by Christmas Eve, has not yet been concluded, as both sides report. However, there will be no change to existing bookings for Condor guests on Lufthansa feeders, assured spokespersons for both companies. According to reports, Condor has to pay higher prices for new bookings on Lufthansa aircraft and can no longer have the seats to the previously agreed extent. According to Lufthansa, you also bear the risk of missed connections.
“Indispensable partner”
Condor says it is still looking for an agreement with the much larger partner. A large number of questions were asked about the Lufthansa proposal, which probably remained unanswered because of the holidays. Basically, they want to find a partnership-based foundation for long-term cooperation. “After all, the Lufthansa Group is an indispensable partner for Condor, which, with over 300 feeder flights per day from over 100 cities in Germany and Europe, provides the overwhelming majority of capacity for the connection to Frankfurt.”
In response to more expensive and presumably lower feeder capacities, Condor has removed smaller North American destinations such as Halifax, Edmonton, Baltimore and Phoenix from its program for the summer. Other routes will be reduced in favor of connections with higher demand. There will be additional flights to Miami and Mauritius, and Johannesburg and Bangkok will soon be served all year round. Flights to European cities and German airports were also added to the program, which can also be used as feeders.
Main proceedings not yet decided
For years, the legal dispute has revolved around the question of whether Lufthansa has to grant its competitor special conditions for competitive reasons, as the Federal Cartel Office had also advocated. The relevant agreement dates back to the time when Condor still belonged to the Lufthansa Group and not to British financial investors like it does today. The BGH has so far only decided in expedited proceedings, so the decision on the main case is still pending before the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
dpa
Source: Stern
