Thomas Cook bankruptcy: Dusseldorf and Cologne/Bonn airports welcome the continuation of Condor flight operations

The British tourism company Thomas Cook plc filed for bankruptcy in London with immediate effect last night. Not affected by the bankruptcy is the German subsidiary Condor, which announced that it intends to continue its flight operations. On Monday morning, all ten scheduled Condor flights from Dusseldorf started on time for their destinations. For the entire day, 18 departures are planned.

Thomas Schnalke, CEO of Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH, explains: “Thomas Cook’s filing for bankruptcy was very surprising for us. Until the very end, there was no indication in the public that a possible failure of the financing talks would be possible. All the more we welcome Condor’s decision to maintain the flight operations and provide operational support for our opportunities at the site.”

The airline Condor has a market share of six percent at Dusseldorf Airport. Overall, the airline based in Frankfurt in the summer of 2019 served 38 destinations with up to 110 weekly departures. For the winter of 2019/20, 13 destinations with up to 37 weekly departures are planned.

Also Cologne/Bonn airport said that, with regard to the insolvency of the Thomas Cook Group, the flight operations in Cologne/Bonn are not affected. If reliable information is confirmed during the day, the airport will share it on social media.

Holidaymakers who have booked their trip through Thomas Cook or its affiliates in the coming days are kindly requested to check with their tour operator about the current situation.

Condor has applied for a government-guaranteed a bridge loan to prevent liquidity problems. This is currently being examined by the German Federal Government. The amount, the exact purpose and the planned duration are not officially known. Allegedly it is about 200 million euros.

Condor has a fleet of 14 aircraft. According to CH-Aviation, these are all Airbus A320s except for two Boeing 757-300s and one 767.

September 23, 2019