Condor Airlines

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Condor Boeing 757, new colours

Condor Flugdienst is an airline based in Germany. It is Germany's largest holiday airline, operating services to the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, North America and the Caribbean. Its main base is Frankfurt International Airport, with a hub at Munich International Airport.

1 Code Data
2 History
3 Services
4 Fleet
5 Livery
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Code Data

IATA Code: DE
ICAO Code: CFG
Callsign: Condor ^[1]

[edit] History

The airline was established on 21 December 1955, as Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH, and started operations on 28 March 1956. A slump in the charter market in early 1960 led to its takeover by Lufthansa and the change of name to Condor Flugdienst on 25 October 1961, during which time it operated four Vickers Viscount and two Fokker F27 aircraft.

From 1965 to 1969 Condor saw enormous growth as it transitioned to an all-jet fleet. Its first jet was a Boeing 727, followed in 1967 by a Boeing 707, and by 1969 a Douglas DC-8, several 727s, and three Boeing 737s were added to its fleet. This was followed by a Boeing 747 in 1971, shortly after which time the airline began service to North America. Hit hard by the 1970s fuel crisis, the airline got rid of its 747s and added three McDonnell Douglas DC-10 planes for its long-haul routes, with Airbus A300 planes added in 1981.

During the early 1990s it upgraded its fleet with Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 planes. At this point it was a major player in the charter airline world, flying to 65 exotic destinations and major cities worldwide. It was amalgamated with Südflug in August 1992.

C&N Touristic, the parent company of Condor, was renamed Thomas Cook following C&N's acquisition of the UK tour group. In March 2003 the airline was rebranded Thomas Cook - Powered by Condor as part of the group's rebranding. Condor Berlin was absorbed into Thomas Cook during the rebranding in March 2003. However, the branding was reversed in May 2004 and a new CEO decided to use the old and very traditional name Condor again.

[edit] Services

Condor Airbus A320, old colours

Condor Flugdienst operates the following services (as of November 2006):

Domestic scheduled destinations: Berlin (Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport and Tegel International Airport), Bremen, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Leipzig/Halle, Münster-Osnabrück, Munich, Nuremberg, Paderborn and Stuttgart.

International scheduled destinations:

Europe & Middle East
- Antalya
- Arrecife (Lanzarote)
- Barcelona
- Bodrum
- Burgas
- Chania
- Constanţa
- Dalaman
- Dubai
- Faro
- Fuerteventura
- Funchal (Madeira)
- Heraklion
- Hurghada
- Ibiza
- Istanbul (Sabiha Gökçen International Airport)
- Izmir
- Jerez de la Frontera
- Kos
- Larnaca
- Las Palmas
- Madrid
- Mahón (Menorca)
- Málaga
- Marsa Alam
- Marseille
- Naples
- Palma de Mallorca (Son Sant Joan Airport)
- Paphos
- Rhodos
- Rome (Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport)
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife
- Santorini
- Sharm el-Sheikh (Ophira Int'l Airport)
- Taba (Egypt)
- Tenerife
- Thessaloniki
- Varna
- Venice

North America

Caribbean & Central America
- Antigua (VC Bird International Airport)
- Barbados (Grantley Adams International Airport)
- Cancún (Cancún International Airport)
- Cayo Coco (Cayo Coco Airport)
- Grenada (Point Salines International Airport)
- Havana (José Martí International Airport)
- Holguín (Frank Pais Airport)
- La Romana (La Romana International Airport)
- Montego Bay (Sir Donald Sangster International Airport)
- Porlamar (Santiago Mariño International Airport)
- Puerta Plata (Gregorio Luperón International Airport)
- Punta Cana (Punta Cana International Airport)
- Samaná (Dominican Republic)
- San José (Juan Santamaría International Airport)
- Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) (Las Américas International Airport)
- Tobago (Crown Point Airport)
- Varadero (Juan Gualberto Gomez Airport)

South America
- Salvador da Bahia (Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport)

Africa

Asia

[edit] Fleet

Condor Airbus A320, old colours, new titles and logo

The Condor Flugdienst fleet consists of the following aircraft (at August 2006) ^[2] :

In March 2006, the Condor fleet age was 8.4 years old.

[edit] 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.