Lufthansa Group will no longer have to provide feeder traffic at Frankfurt International to rival Condor (DE, Frankfurt International) after the European Union watchdog backed down from ordering a reinstatement of the feed.
In a statement on February 27, the European Commission announced it had decided to close its interim antitrust proceedings against the Lufthansa parent as it had found that the legal conditions for ordering these measures were not met.
The regulator had sent Lufthansa Group a formal "statement of objections" on January 15 in which it preliminarily concluded that interim measures were required to preserve healthy airline competition on the transatlantic route between Frankfurt and New York following the end of special feed traffic arrangements between Condor and Lufthansa Group in December 2024.
This was part of the authority's ongoing broader investigation into potential competition restrictions on transatlantic routes linked to Lufthansa's A++ joint venture with United Airlines and Air Canada.
"Following further consideration of all available evidence, the Commission has decided to close its interim measures proceedings on the basis that not all of the legal conditions for ordering interim measures were met. This comes without prejudice to the ongoing investigation in the main proceedings as the Commission continues investigating the compatibility of the A++ transatlantic joint venture with EU competition rules on transatlantic routes," it stated.
"We are pleased with this decision by the EU Commission and see our position confirmed. Condor can continue to book Lufthansa Group flights based on the industry-standard interlining," a Lufthansa Group spokesman told ch-aviation.
Earlier, Lufthansa Group had said there was "neither a factual nor a legal basis" for the reinstatement of Condor's feed.
A Condor spokesperson said: "As a matter of principle, Condor does not comment on ongoing proceedings. However, we assume that the proceedings currently being conducted by the German Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission will lead to positive decisions in favour of competition and, thus, for consumers."
"As these proceedings may take some time, Condor is still in constructive talks with Lufthansa in order to reach an out-of-court settlement that is mutually satisfactory."
"In the meantime," the spokesperson added, "Condor continues to consistently implement its own strategy and is aligning its route network to the needs of its passengers."
In 2022, the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) prohibited Lufthansa’s 2020 termination of the special prorate agreement (SPA) that granted Condor particular conditions for booking feeder flights in the Lufthansa network. The SPA dated back to when Condor still belonged to Lufthansa Group. However, Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court and, most recently, the Federal Court of Justice both ruled in favour of Lufthansa. According to these rulings, the SPA expired at the end of 2024.
