Condor Airlines was the name of a major German charter airline that also operated some regularly scheduled flights.

History

Condor began to fly in 1955, using the name Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH. For many years, it was a well known name to German travellers. At its beginnings, it used the then modern equipment such as DC-3 airplanes.

The airline outgrew that phase and went into the jet age, using other planes such as DC-10s and others. By the 1990s, it was a major player in the charter airline world, flying to many different exotic destinations and some major cities worldwide. In 1998, the airline was bought over by Lufthansa, and Boeing 757s were being put to use.

In 2003, the airline was sold to Thomas Cook Airlines, Condor being merged in its entirety to the Thomas Cook company by April of that year. However, the brand name Thomas Cook was unsuccessful, so a new CEO decided to use the old and very traditional name Condor again in 2004.

Fleet

(This list of planes was created using the information from the Condor website, and is current as of 22-Oct-2004)

• 12 x Airbus A320
• 9 x Boeing 767-300
• 7 x Boeing 757-200
• 13 x Boeing 757-300

Livery

Condor's livery reflected that of Lufthansa during the 1990s, with an all white fuselage airplane, the letters Condor written in black on top of the front windows, and an all yellow tail with Condor's logo of a blue bird inside a blue circle, very similar to Lufthansa's 1970s logo.

Destinations

Many vacation spots world-wide.

Weblinks

• Condor.de (http://www.condor.de/)
• Thomas Cook (http://www.thomascook.de/)