Condor gets a new owner

Condor has secured its future by finding an investor that will take over 51% of the shares of the airline. Private equity firm Attestor Capital is the lucky partner and will, initially, invest 200 million euros in equity. It will also provide 250 million euros of funding to renew Condor's long-haul fleet, which consists of fifteen B767-300ERs of an average age of 26 years. Which type(s) the airline has set its eyes on is unclear as is the timeline for the replacement.

The remaining 49% of the shares of Condor will remain, for now, with SG Luftfahrtgesellschaft, a fund created by the German federal government and state of Hesse to bail out the airline when Thomas Cook collapsed in September 2019 and also during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the airline's press-release it's stated, however, that Attestor has the option to also take-over the remaining shares of Condor in the future.

Condor has been looking for a new owner since the collapse of Thomas Cook. Early in 2020, the Polish Aviation Group (owner of LOT), announced it would take-over the airline but that deal collapsed due to the pandemic.

Next to the B767-300ERs, Condor's fleet currently consists of twelve A320s, ten A321s and thirteen B757-300s. Of the fifteen B767-300ERs, six are currently in use as so-called "phreighters" on behalf of DHL.

Photo by Anton Homma.