Bundeskartellamt – Condor is entitled to feeder flights – Economy

In the dispute over important feeder flights by Lufthansa, the Federal Cartel Office has sided with the holiday airline Condor. The competition authorities have prohibited Lufthansa from ending the long-standing cooperation agreement with Condor until further notice, as the Bonn authority announced. “On this basis, Condor passengers from all over Europe can continue to use feeder flights operated by Lufthansa and its airlines with a through ticket to the Condor long-haul flight,” said Andreas Mundt, head of the Cartel Office. The authority thus confirmed an initial assessment from February. The decision is not yet final and can be appealed to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. Lufthansa immediately announced that it would do so.

Condor can breathe easy for the time being. “For our customers and partners, this means unlimited, long-term planning security with access to convenient transfer connections,” said Condor boss Ralf Teckentrup. The Bundeskartellamt’s decision shows that Condor has a legitimate claim to feeder flights through the crane airline “because the Lufthansa Group would otherwise abuse its market power”. With the Eurowings Discover brand, Lufthansa wants to expand long-haul flights to distant holiday destinations, which will intensify competition with Condor.

The conflict between the airlines flared up when Lufthansa canceled an agreement to carry Condor passengers on feeder flights at the end of 2020 as of June 1, 2021. Condor defended itself against it at the Federal Cartel Office and the EU court in Luxembourg. The feeder flight agreement runs until October 31. “We have come to the conclusion that Condor has an antitrust claim against Lufthansa for access to the feeder flights beyond this point in time,” emphasized Mundt, head of the cartel office. Lufthansa spoke of a “completely untypical industry adjustment”.

The competition watchdogs argue that Lufthansa is the only airline that can offer a comprehensive feeder network with flights from Europe for the central German hubs in Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf. In the foreseeable future, Condor will not be able to offer its long-haul passengers a comparably seamless journey. Also, the holiday airline cannot set up its own feeder network because take-off and landing rights at the hubs are largely assigned to Lufthansa. In the Bundeskartellamt’s view, performance and price competition on the “already highly concentrated indirect long-haul connections” is only possible if Condor can fall back on Lufthansa feeder flights.

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