Status: 01.09.2022 3:30 p.m
According to a decision by the Federal Cartel Office, Condor passengers must continue to be able to reach their long-distance connections with feeder flights operated by the Lufthansa Group. For Lufthansa it is a crushing defeat.
Passengers of the airline Condor can continue to reach their long-distance flights with feeder aircraft from the Lufthansa Group. The Federal Cartel Office decided that. Until further notice, the competition authorities have prohibited Lufthansa from terminating the long-standing cooperation agreements with Condor. So far, the regulation was limited to the end of October 2022.
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 – by offering a journey to the airport by bus or train. 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. “Due to its dominant position in the market when it comes to offering a feeder network, Lufthansa is subject to antitrust abuse control and therefore has special obligations towards other market participants,” said the competition authorities.
Access to more booking classes
But that’s not all: Condor should also have access to more booking classes than before. Because it is not permissible under antitrust law “that Lufthansa restricts booking and price control for Condor via specifications for booking classes that Condor can offer its passengers on long-haul routes”.
“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 spoke of a “completely untypical industry adjustment”. The decision will therefore be subject to judicial review.
Complete success for Condor
“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 right to feeder flights through Lufthansa, “because the Lufthansa Group would otherwise abuse its market power.” The luggage of Condor guests will continue to be checked through on feeder flights. Even in the event of a delay, the uniform booking means that it is completely covered.
The background to the dispute is the expansion plans of Lufthansa, which wants to expand long-haul flights to distant holiday destinations with the Eurowings Discover brand. With this, Lufthansa would attack Condor in its very own business. Condor and Lufthansa were actually closely linked for decades. At times, Lufthansa was even the sole owner. However, the airline sold its last shares a decade ago.