On Wednesday 15 January, the European Commission sent Lufthansa a supplementary statement of objections, stating its intention to order the airline to reinstate Condor’s access to Lufthansa’s feed traffic to and from Frankfurt airport on the terms agreed between the two airlines in June 2024.
This communication comes in the context of the Commission’s proceedings initiated in August 2024 relating to its investigation into a potential restriction of competition on transatlantic routes operated to or from several airports in the European Economic Area (EEA) by the A++ transatlantic Joint Venture (JV), made up of Lufthansa, United and Air Canada.
The Commission came to the preliminary conclusion that A++ transatlantic JV restricted competition on the Frankfurt-New York route and that the adoption of interim measures allowing Condor to continue to offer its services on this route was justified in order to prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition on this market.
In order to ensure the effectiveness of any final decision following the in-depth investigation, the supplementary statement of objections considers that Lufthansa should reinstate the arrangements based on a special agreement on a quota system for the supply of feed traffic to and from Frankfurt airport to Condor, which were agreed between the two airlines in June 2024. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)