This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

Condor Flugdienst GmbH, usually shortened to Condor, is an airline based in Germany, operating scheduled leisure flights to the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, North America and the Caribbean as part of Thomas Cook Group. Its main base is Frankfurt Airport^[1] (from where all longhaul flights depart); secondary bases for Mediterranean flights are Munich Airport, Hamburg Airport, Düsseldorf International Airport, Stuttgart Airport and Berlin Schönefeld Airport. The company is headquartered in Kelsterbach, Hesse, with important branch offices in Oberursel and Schönefeld.^[2] It is the only airline of the Thomas Cook Group that it is not a charter carrier.

History

1955-1959: The beginnings

The company was founded on 21 December 1955 as Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH, its ownership being split between Norddeutscher Lloyd (27.75 %), Hamburg America Line (27.75 %), Deutsche Lufthansa (26 %) and Deutsche Bundesbahn (18.5 %). The initial fleet of three 36-passenger Vickers VC.1 Viking aircraft was based at Frankfurt Airport, the Lufthansa hub. Scheduled flight operations were launched on 29 March 1956 with a pilgrimage flight to Israel. Further destinations flown to during the first year were Majorca and Tenerife. In 1959, Lufthansa took over 95.5 percent of the stake, thus creating its first post-war subsidiary.

1960-1969

In 1961, Deutsche Flugdienst took over its rival Condor-Luftreederei (which had been founded in 1957 by Oetker), subsequently changing its name to Condor Flugdienst GmbH, thus re-introducing the "Condor" name with Lufthansa (there was a Brazilian subsidiary named Syndicato Condor between 1928 and 1943). In 1962, Condor Flugdienst transported ca. 32,000 passengers (18,400 of which to and from Majorca) and had a market share of 63.3 percent in the German leisure air travel. In 1966, the longhaul business was launched, with flights to Thailand, Ceylon, Kenya and the Dominican Republic.

1970-1979: Leading leisure airline

In 1971, Condor became the world's first leisure airline to add the Boeing 747 (at that time the largest passenger aircraft) to its fleet. In 1973, the airline generated a revenue of 291 million DM (then equivalent to 90.8 million USD),^[3] surpassing all other leisure airlines worldwide. At that time, the Condor fleet consisted of two Boeing 747-200s, two 707s and ten 727s.

1980-1989

This period saw the launch of the Condor Individuell system, allowing direct flight bookings by passengers without the need of a travel agency. In 1989, SunExpress was founded as a co-operation between Condor and Turkish Airlines, aiming at leisure traffic between Germany and Turkey.

1990-1999

In 1996, commemorating the 40th birthday of the airline, US painter James Rizzi created a special paint scheme which was applied to one of Condor's Boeing 757s. With an order for 12 aircraft, the airline became the launch customer of the enlarged Boeing 757-300. In 1998, Condor Berlin GmbH was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary with headquarters at Berlin Tegel Airport (as all other German airlines, Condor was not allowed to operate into West Berlin until 1990), using Airbus A320 aircraft, which had recently been added to the fleet, replacing the Boeing 737 short-haul airliners. In the early 2000s, the Berlin business was moved to Schönefeld Airport.

2000-2009: Becoming part of Thomas Cook

In 2002, the process of transforming Condor from a Lufthansa subsidiary to a part of Thomas Cook Group (along with Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium) and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia) began with the rebranding as Thomas Cook powered by Condor. A new livery was introduced, featuring the Thomas Cook logo on the aircraft tail and the word "Condor" written in the font used by Thomas Cook Airlines. In 2004, Condor became part of Thomas Cook AG, returning to the Condor Flugdienst brand name.

Destinations

Corporate affairs

The company is headquartered in Kelsterbach, Hesse.^[2][4] The company maintains branch offices in Oberursel and Berlin Schönefeld Airport.^[5][6] Condor Technik GmbH is based out of Building 507 in Cargo City South at Frankfurt Airport in Flughafen, Frankfurt.^[2][7][8]

New headquarters

In January 2010 the airline held a groundbreaking for a new headquarters complex in Gateway Gardens, an office complex located in Flughafen, Frankfurt, across the Bundesautobahn 3 from Frankfurt Airport. Ralf Teckentrup, the CEO of Condor, said that the new headquarters would place the airline's operations closer to Frankfurt Airport. 380 ground employees will work in the building, and pre-flight briefings for about 2,000 flight attendants will be held in the building.^[9] Prior to its redevelopment, the land of Gateway Gardens previously housed residences of families stationed at a U.S. military base.^[10]

Groß & Partner and OFB Projektentwicklung developed the seven floor facility.^[11] The 14,600-square-metre (157,000 sq ft) building will be situated between the park and the central plaza, in the "Quartier Mondo" area of Gateway Gardens. It will house Condor's corporate headquarters, a training and education center with a flight simulator, and the airline's flight operations facility. 2,700 square metres (29,000 sq ft) of the facility will include small units that will be rented to other tenants. The developers plan to include a café and restaurant on the building's first floor. The building is scheduled to open in the northern hemisphere spring of 2012.^[9]

Safety video

The current airline safety video features lookalikes of various celebrities, including Charlie Chaplin, the Queen of England, Elvis Presley, Michael Schumacher, Paris Hilton, Marilyn Monroe, and Neil Armstrong. The video was first played on 1 April 2011.^[12]

Fleet