Condor shifts from leisure carrier to hub-and-spoke model, chief says

Speaking at the IATA Wings of Change conference in Brussels on 15 October, Condor chief executive Peter Gerber said the German airline has completed most of a planned shift from pure leisure carrier to hub-and-spoke operation.

Gerber said Lufthansa Group's 2020 decision to end their feeder flight agreement left Condor no choice but to build its own feeder network. Without that traffic, he said, the carrier would have had to shut down. He described the change as the largest step in the company's restructuring.

In September, Condor announced it would add three European destinations next spring to channel connecting passengers through its Frankfurt base onto long-haul services. Athens, Florence and Stockholm are due to join, bringing the total number of European destinations to 16 in 2027.

Gerber said the airline will grow and intends to expand both its leisure and business offerings, calling the combination a "bleisure" carrier. He conceded the term is unattractive but said it reflects what the company is doing.

Fleet renewal is part of the transformation. Condor took delivery of its first Airbus A330-900 in 2022 and expects to fly 25 of the type by 2031, and it is replacing narrowbody aircraft with Airbus A320neo-family jets.

In his address, Gerber criticised the European Commission over what he called costly regulations that leave European operators at a competitive disadvantage. With fuel prices rising sharply, he suggested the Commission suspend the EU emissions trading system for several months.