Lufthansa Group says there is neither a factual nor a legal basis for the European Commission's decision to provisionally order the company to reinstate competitor Condor's access to Lufthansa's feeder traffic at Frankfurt International.
In a policy brief published in February, Lufthansa argued that Condor was itself providing counter-evidence to its argument that there was no alternative to Lufthansa for the feeder flights.
"In addition to new connections to Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Prague Václav Havel, and Paris CDG, [Condor] will fly twice from Frankfurt to Berlin Brandenburg, Hamburg, and Munich, starting in March. Condor is thus offering an attractive alternative to existing connections within Germany," it argued. "Condor's claim that there is no alternative to the Lufthansa feeder flights is, therefore, not true." It also pointed to rail traffic as a feeder.
Lufthansa flagged that both the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf - OLG) and, most recently, the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof - BGH) had ruled in its favour. It cited an extract from the OLG decision that indicated that the Federal Cartel Office "did not conduct the administrative proceedings against Lufthansa from the outset in an impartial and open manner and free of political influence by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs."
It also highlighted that two other competitors, Delta Air Lines and Singapore Airlines, operate on the transatlantic route from Frankfurt.
The German airline deemed the Commission's decision surprising as it had already reviewed the case twice, referring it to the German Federal Cartel Office in 2020 and the Federal Court of Justice in 2024.
The group reacted to the Commission's January 15 notice that it had sent a supplementary statement of objections to Lufthansa urging it to reinstate Condor's access to the feed traffic at Frankfurt, as was practised under a long-contested Special Prorate Agreement (SPA) with the leisure-focused carrier.
Lufthansa terminated the SPA in December on the authorisation of the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof - BGH). The ruling overturned a 2022 determination by the Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt).
Lufthansa has tried since 2020 to terminate the SPA, which dates back to when Condor was still part of the group. However, the European Union competition watchdog expressed concern that without the feeder flights, competition between Frankfurt and New York was at risk in light of the A++ transatlantic joint venture between Lufthansa, Air Canada, and United Airlines.
Condor welcomed the European Commission's decision and legal opinion.
