Lufthansa Group is interested in taking over Condor (DE, Frankfurt International) "one way or another" to grow its leisure-oriented business, Group CEO Carsten Spohr said during a quarterly earnings call.
"Assuming we'll - one way or another get a whole of Condor, be it through an acquisition, be it through a bankruptcy, that could be the number of airplanes we could end up with in Frankfurt International and Munich," Spohr said.
He did not elaborate on the group's plans for the acquisition of Condor from Thomas Cook Group. The holding has recently announced it will explore the sale of its profitable airline units to focus on hotels and travel agent businesses.
Spohr said that Lufthansa estimates that about 15% of demand from its network hubs is leisure traffic. While in Zurich this niche is predominantly served by the group's subsidiary Edelweiss Air, in Germany the market is currently divided between Eurowings and Condor.
He added that right now it was hard to speculate given the uncertainties related to the potential anti-monopoly actions and the general approach of Thomas Cook Group to selling its airlines.
In an interview with aeroTELEGRAPH, Condor CEO Ralf Teckentrup also said that as of now, it was unclear whether and how the group will proceed with the sale of the airlines. He also did not elaborate whether the airline itself had any preference regarding its potential split into short- and long-haul units before the sale.
Carsten Spohr also distanced Lufthansa Group from potential investment in Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino). He elaborated that while, in principle, the group could still be interested if it was allowed to restructure the Italian carrier and had a final say over how it is run, the chances of such a solution were decreasing.
"My personal view is with the current government it's difficult to find a rational solution," Spohr said.
