Thomas Cook halts Condor sale

Thomas Cook has taken the step of halting its proposed sale of Condor to Air Berlin after rethinking its plans for the charter airline.

The operator has decided not to sell the airline as planned to Germany's second largest carrier but instead hinted that it may have an alternative buyer.
Both companies confirmed this week that the agreement of sale for Condor that had been in place since late 2007 had been cancelled by mutual consent.

Moreover, both Air Berlin and Thomas Cook pointed to "significantly changed economic framework conditions" as motivating the decision.

Condor operates in Germany and services destinations in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and North America from its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich.

It has 35 planes in the fleet and it was estimated that Air Berlin would have had to pay around €500 million (£399 million) if the deal had gone through.

Thomas Cook has urged that it still believes Condor represents "a strong business with strong potential".

The operator also indicated that it is "pursuing a range of other available options" for Condor that include material additions.

"In the light of the potential materiality of the other options, Thomas Cook has decided to suspend its share buy-back programme until further notice," it said in a statement.

Equally Thomas Cook intends to continue discussions with Air Berlin regarding the "feasibility of an alternative transaction".

Airline News posted on 11 July 2008

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