Attestor Capital, the owner of a 51% stake in German leisure specialist Condor, has incorporated a new virtual carrier in Estonia. Marabu (DI, Tallinn Lennart Meri) will launch in the Summer 2023 season with six chartered A320 aircraft based out of Munich and Hamburg Helmut Schmidt.
The start-up said it would charter all six aircraft from Estonia's Nordica, although the Estonian carrier, in a separate statement, confirmed only that it would charter three A320-200Ns to Marabu. Nordica will also provide operational support for the new carrier. The Estonian ACMI/charter specialist has only recently entered the narrowbody segment and currently operates a single A320-200. However, it plans to grow this business rapidly. In October, it disclosed plans to establish a new AOC for operations in Germany, although at that time it did not identify the customer.
Marabu said it plans to eventually obtain its own Air Operator's Certificate as soon as 2023. It did not respond to ch-aviation's request for more details regarding its certification plans and whether it would charter/wet-lease aircraft from other operators. Condor, Attestor Capital, and Nordica also did not respond to requests for comment.
Marabu will operate under its own brand, although Condor will be exclusively tasked with sales and distribution. According to a network map posted by the start-up on its website, it intends to serve 20 destinations in Spain (the mainland, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands), Portugal, Sardinia, Croatia, Greece, and Egypt. Sales are scheduled to begin on December 14.
The Estonian company is fully owned by Germany-based special purpose vehicle CD Ferienflug Hessen Holding GmbH. The chief executive of Marabu is Paul Schwaiger, formerly sales director of Condor and previously CEO of rival SunExpress. Chief operating officer of the Estonian carrier is Tony Larsson, who has previously worked in management and advisory positions at West Air Sweden, Swiftair, and Nordica.
German labour union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) criticised Attestor's plan as an example of social dumping in aviation.
"When the same owner operates the same routes with the same aircraft and uses Condor sales channels, many questions are raised... As a rule, the purpose of such an undertaking is to undermine working conditions and social standards. The choice of Estonia as the place of registration is a cause for concern. Estonia has developed into a kind of 'Panama of aviation' in recent years... It must not happen that working conditions are undermined by competition in-house," the union said.
The union has previously decried what it labelled "bogus" ACMI contracts, alleging that airlines were using them to outsource work to cheaper countries.
