German charter airline Condor does not expect to find a new owner until 2022 at the earliest, its chief executive has said.
The carrier had agreed a sale to Poland's national carrier LOT for approximately €300 million, but LOT's owner, Polish Aviation Group (PGL), pulled out of the deal in April when the coronavirus crisis grounded air travel.
"I do not see that we will have an investor process in the next 12 months," Condor's Ralf Teckentrup told journalists, adding that he expects negotiations to take place in mid-2022 at the earliest.
Condor, which is a former unit of collapsed holiday company Thomas Cook, has so far survived the COVID-19 pandemic with €550 million of state aid, but airline industry experts expect German state lender KfW to initiate a sales process eventually.
Capacity And Layoffs
Teckentrup said that Condor is using 10% to 15% of its capacity at the moment, but is optimistic about lifting that to 60% to 75% next summer, citing the potential availability of coronavirus vaccines and rapid testing.
There will be no layoffs among its 4,200 employees until the end of next year, Teckentrup said, adding that Condor is checking whether it can also help with transportation of coronavirus vaccines.
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