Lufthansa Wins Big: Court Ruling Ends Feeder Flight War With Condor

Lufthansa has secured yet another court victory in a long-running dispute with leisure carrier Condor over feeder flights that the airline provides its rival for long-haul transatlantic flights.

The dispute dates back to 2022 when Lufthansa wanted to terminate its historical feeder flight agreement with Condor. At the time, a German court said this was an abuse of Lufthansa’s dominant position in the country’s aviation market, but that ruling has now been overturned.

Why was Lufthansa providing feeder flights to Condor in the first place?

Why Lufthansa was providing short-haul feeder flights to Condor in the first place has to do with the historic relationship between the two airlines.

Condor was created back in the 1950s, and at the time, Lufthansa was a major shareholder in the airline. Condor was seen as the leisure subsidiary of Lufthansa, although that all started to change in the early 2000s.

Lufthansa eventually divested its shares to Thomas Cook, a now-defunct travel agency business that had a presence in several major markets throughout Europe.

When Thomas Cook went into liquidation in 2019, Condor became an independent carrier and started to build a new business plan, which has seen the airline invest significantly in its onboard product and route network.

Condor’s relationship with Lufthansa had, however, not quite ended when the airline sold its shares in Condor.

Lufthansa provided feeder flights from its short-haul network onto Condor’s long-haul flights. Essentially, passengers could book Lufthansa short-haul flights from across Germany and connect in Condor’s hub in Frankfurt onto one of its long-haul flights.

The longstanding agreement gave Condor access to these feeder flights at a preferential price, but Lufthansa has been trying to get out of this arrangement for years.

Antitrust regulators initially blocked Lufthansa’s termination of the deal

When Lufthansa first attempted to terminate the feeder flight agreement, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office ruled that the airline was abusing its dominant position in the country’s aviation market and forced Lufthansa to continue offering feeder flights at a discount.

Lufthansa appealed the verdict, and in May 2024, a Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf granted the airline interim relief, paving the way for Lufthansa to terminate the agreement.

In response, Condor started to axe some transatlantic flights, but the European Commission seemingly came to the rescue at the last minute, opening an investigation into Lufthansa’s transatlantic joint venture with United Airlines and Air Canada.

The allegation was that the joint venture unfairly restricted competition in the Frankfurt transatlantic market, and the Commission was considering whether to impose remedies such as forcing Lufthansa to continue its discounted feeder flights for Condor.

European Commission closes investigation in victory for Lufthansa

The Commission ultimately decided, however, not to pursue the investigation after Lufthansa’s legal team convinced the board that Condor wasn’t being adversely affected because it continued to operate transatlantic flights from Frankfurt even after the feeder flight agreement was terminated.

Last week, the Higher Regional Court set aside the 2022 ruling by the Federal Cartel Office, bringing an end to the long legal drama between Lufthansa and Condor.

Could Condor now try to join the Oneworld alliance?

What is next for Condor remains uncertain. Condor is growing its own short-haul network for feeder flight services, while also expanding its long-haul network to ‘high growth’ destinations such as Bangkok, Johannesburg, and Mauritius (MRU), as well as Panama City.

Condor already has a partnership with Alaska Airlines, and there are ongoing talks with American Airlines about some sort of transatlantic agreement. This has fuelled speculation that Condor is eyeing a potential application to join the oneworld alliance.