Photo: Thomas Cook
The German airline Lufthansa will bid for the struggling British tour operator Thomas Cook's German airline, Condor. The bid will also include an option on the remaining parts of the British travel company's flight operations.
“Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa’s CEO, told Reuters at the company’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.".
”During yesterday's board meeting, we decided to make a bid for Condor with an option on the remaining part of Thomas Cook's aviation business,” said Carsten Spohr.
Thomas Cook, which owns the Swedish charter company Ving among others, has previously had Lufthansa as a major shareholder. Between 2002 and 2006, Lufthansa, through its subsidiaries, held half of the company.
The tour operator has stood for two profit warnings, significant losses and suffering a credit rating downgrade in 2018. In the industry, main competitor Tui has also issued a profit warning during the year, while several airlines have gone bankrupt, including the British BMI and the Icelandic Wow Air.
Last year, Thomas Cook had a turnover of £9 billion and served 19 million travellers with a workforce of 22,000 people spread across 16 countries.
Thomas Cook's share price rose 11 percent on the London Stock Exchange on the information. Lufthansa's share price traded down about 1.5 percent.
Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt
