Condor Flugdienst GmbH, former subsidiary airline of the Thomas Cook Group, says that in order to separate itself from its former parent company, it has filed an application for the opening of a protective shield procedure.
“In this way, we are protecting ourselves from the possible claims by our insolvent parent company, Thomas Cook plc, and are thus creating the best possible assurance for the future of the company,” CEO Ralf Teckentrup said in a statement.
Teckentrup also said that on Tuesday (September 24) evening Condor received a guarantee from the Federal German government and the Hessian State Government for a six-month bridging loan to the amount of € 380m. “We had submitted the application in order to prevent possible liquidity bottlenecks caused by the seasonal low winter booking period,” the statement said. The payout of the bridge loan is still subject to approval by the European Commission. “For you as a sales partner, this means that your existing and new bookings with Condor are safe for the winter.”
Teckentrup concluded by saying that Condor and its subsidiaries now have the financial means to continue operations. “We have done this very well in the last three days, all flights flew with a very good on-time performance. You, our esteemed partners, have helped us tremendously in the last difficult days with loyalty and great energy to maintain our flight operations as usual. For this I would like to thank you very much, especially on behalf of our 4 900 employees.”
Condor operates a seasonal service from Frankfurt to Cape Town between September and April, and still plans to increase its service from three to four flights per week, effective October 28.
