Condor Flugdienst: Thomas Cook Group's German airline raises profile with airberlin's demise

Thomas Cook Group's biggest airline by passenger numbers, the leisure operator Condor Flugdienst, is the only one with its own brand and separate reporting of financial results. It also has the highest proportion of seat-only sales. More than four years after Thomas Cook merged its airlines into a single segment, Condor still has more autonomy than the others (it even looked at buying parts of airberlin).

Condor's principal base is Frankfurt Airport, where its 4.8% share of seats in summer 2017 placed it second to Lufthansa, which had 63.4% (Ryanair just edges it into third place this winter). Condor's next two most important bases are Munich and Duesseldorf, which has overtaken Hamburg as its number three hub. It also serves Leipzig/Halle, Hannover, Berlin Schoenefeld, and Cologne/Bonn, with a routes to destinations in all the major world regions.

After losses, capacity cuts and restructuring, Condor has returned to growth in 2017 and also returned to profit. Condor's renewed confidence has gained a further boost with airberlin's demise and subsequent cessation of long haul activities.

Condor has taken the opportunity to expand its network in the Caribbean, where it now offers more destinations than any other airline from Europe, including route launches from airberlin's former second hub of Duesseldorf.