Condor
Condor Flugdienst, 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, from where pretty much all longhaul flights depart. A secondary bases for the Mediterranean flights include Munich Airport, Hamburg Airport, Düsseldorf International Airport, Stuttgart Airport and Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It is the only airline of the Thomas Cook Group that it is not a charter carrier.
The airline has a good reputation and offers complimentary meal and soft drink service to all passengers, alcoholic bevereages and additional snacks can be purchased onboard. They also offer an enhanced economy service as well as a business class cabin at reasonable fares. Unlike many other European airlines, Condor do not have seat back video entertainment systems for most passengers, still adopting the over head screens and one programme schedule. For some this can be annoying, especially if used to flying with an alternative airline that features seat back entertainment.
Our rating; 3.5 stars.
Reservations
USA & Canada
1-866-960-7915
all other countries
+49 180 5 7072020,14 €/minute Min charge
open 24 hours
Safety Videos
Elvis is alive and well and flying on Condor, well actually he will make an appearance in Condor Flugdienst GmbH’s new safety demonstration video along with many other celebrity look-alikes. Condor is committed to provide clear safety instructions that will be easily remembered by passengers but are entertaining at the same time.
In the vacation airline’s new safety video, first-rate look-alikes demonstrate that safety can be fun. The flight attendant’s instructions are accompanied by scenes starring doppelgangers of various celebrities. For example, it-girl Paris Hilton parades down the aisle with her lapdog as Michael Schumacher is already buckling up and even Her Majesty, the Queen, is paying a call. The look-alikes play the parts of airline passengers commendably following the attendant’s instructions. Not only are today’s celebrities present in look-alike form, in addition to them, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Charlie Chaplin make it a point that flying and entertainment are closely linked. The video ends on its mission statement, with iconic astronaut Neil Armstrong slightly altering his famous quote: "One small step for you, one giant leap for air safety.”
The History Of Condor, from 1955 to 2010
1955
Condor, the charter flight airline from Thomas Cook AG, is founded on December 21st as “Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH” by the four partners Norddeutscher Lloyd (27.75 %), Hamburg-Amerika-Linie (27.75 %), Deutsche Lufthansa (26 %) and Deutsche Bundesbahn (18.5 %). The base airport is Frankfurt am Main. The fleet consists of three British-made Vickers Viking two-engine propeller aircraft, each with 36 seats.
1956
The company’s tourism flight operation begins on March 29th with a pilgrimage flight to the “Holy Land”. Within the first year of operation, Majorca and the Canary Island of Tenerife are already added to the flight schedule.
1959
Deutsche Lufthansa AG takes over 95.5 percent of the capital.
1961
Deutsche Flugdienst GmbH takes over “Condor-Luftreederei”, founded in 1957 by the Hamburg-based Oetker concern, and changes its name to Condor Flugdienst GmbH. This move returns a tradition-rich name to the Lufthansa family, stemming from the Lufthansa subsidiary “Syndicato Condor Ltda”, founded in 1927 in Rio.
1962
Condor Flugdienst GmbH has a 63.3 percent market share of all German tourism air travel. Some 32,000 passengers are transported in this year – Majorca is the leading destination with 18,400 passengers.
1966
The first long-haul flights go to Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kenya and the Dominican Republic.
1971
Condor is the world’s first leisure airline to use a Boeing 747, the “Jumbo”, in its fleet.
1973
With turnover of 291 million Deutschmarks, Condor is the world’s leading holiday airline. The fleet consists of a total of 14 Boeing aircraft: Two Boeing 747s, two Boeing 707s and ten Boeing 727s.
1989
Together with Turkish Airlines, Condor founds the airline SunExpress.
Condor buys Südflug GmbH, which is a subsidiary of Condor afterwards.
“Condor Flüge individuell” (today Condor Individuell): Condor no longer markets only charter capacities, but now also uses its individual seat business do sell airline seats alone to end customers directly.
1991
Condor is the first tourism airline to introduce a separate, more comfortable class into its aircraft: The new Condor Comfort Class creates new quality standards.
1992
In fall the subsidiary Südflug is integrated into Condor.
1995
Condor expands its shareholdings. Meanwhile Condor-Touristik-Verbund owns holdings in alpha Holding GmbH (30 percent), Kreutzer Touristik GmbH (37.5 percent), Fischer Reisen GmbH (100 percent) and 10 percent of Öger Tours GmbH. Condor additionally assumes the 40 percent owned by Lufthansa in the Turkish charter airline SunExpress.
1996
For Condor’s 40th birthday celebration, American painter James Rizzi creates a Boeing 757 as a flying work of art, the so-called “Rizzi-Bird”.
With twelve firm orders, Condor Flugdienst GmbH is the first customer for the Boeing 757-300.
1997
Condor Flugdienst GmbH belongs to C&N Touristic AG (today Thomas Cook AG): With the merger of Condor Flugdienst GmbH and NUR Touristic GmbH, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and KarstadtQuelle AG have created the basis for an integrated tourism concern with a European format – both partners each hold 50 percent in the company.
1998
At the start of the year, Condor founds “Condor Berlin GmbH”, a 100 percent subsidiary with its headquarters in Berlin Schönefeld. By the end of the year, Condor is awaiting six Airbus A320-200 aircraft, the most technologically modern short-haul aircraft in the world. They replace the four previously leased Boeing 737-300s.
2001
Condor redesigns the Comfort Class in its Boeing 767-300 aircraft, featuring new seats with significantly increased space between seats and an on-board entertainment system equipped with portable DVD players.
2002
Thomas Cook becomes the integrated international tourism brand: Condor is transformed into the new brand, “Thomas Cook powered by Condor”. In Germany, the Condor and Condor Berlin airplanes gradually bear the new Thomas Cook design: The fuselage sections of the aircraft feature the Thomas Cook logotype in the future, and the tail unit displays the Thomas Cook logo. The reference “powered by Condor” makes it clear that the new airline brand is relying on the tried-and-true Condor quality. In June of 2002, the first of a total of 50 Condor aircraft takes off displaying the new paint job.
2004
Starting in May, the Thomas Cook AG airline in Germany returns to the skies under the Condor brand name. As the first and up to now only German airline, the new Condor also begins offering discount prices on long-haul flights: Starting at 99 Euros (USD 133), guests can fly with Condor to America, to the Caribbean, to Africa and to Asia. Discount introductory prices also apply effective immediately for short and medium-haul destinations, starting at 29 Euros (USD 39).
2005
Condor Berlin welcomes another Airbus A320 and now operates a fleet of 13 aircraft of this type.
2006
In March, Condor Flugdienst GmbH celebrates its 50th Birthday. Various events and promotions bring its exciting history to life once again. In the anniversary year 2006, Condor sends a flying declaration of love to the world: The uniquely designed Boeing 757-300 named “Willi” after Wilfried Meyer, who decisively shaped Condor’s image for 30 years. Highlights include the larger-than-life fly on the tail, the motto “Wir lieben Fliegen” (“Born to fly”), and the colorful hearts.
On October 16, Condor welcomes its 150-millionth passenger since 1956 on board. As a token of appreciation, the "guest of honor" and his family are seated in Condor Comfort Class.
2008
Travelers to far-away places can enjoy a brand-new on-board experience with Condor. While overhauling the cabins in its Boeing 767 long-haul fleet, Condor introduces a new Premium Economy Class in addition to the regular Economy Class. It offers 6 inches more legroom compared to the standard Economy Class. The seats are spaced 36 inches apart, and the service includes in-flight catering with premium meals and many other extras. Comfort Class was also upgraded. In addition to redesigned seats, Condors offers portable DVD players with swiveling 10" monitors in Comfort Class.
A separate technical unit, Condor Technik GmbH, is set up to perform the highly demanding repair and maintenance work on the Condor Boeing fleet at Frankfurt Airport.
2009
Condor retrofits its Boeing 767 long-haul aircraft with newly developed aerodynamic winglets. This 6.5 foot wingtip extension reduces not only noise emissions, but also fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Fuel savings for each airplane and year run at around 1,300 metric tons, since improved aerodynamics helps planes reach their cruising altitude faster, and less thrust is required during the flight and the landing approach. Condor is the first airline in Germany to fly with the new large winglets. The first airplane with the new aerodynamic wings takes off in May 2009. Starting at the end of the year, the entire Boeing 767 fleet will fly with the fuel-saving wingtip extensions.
2010
Up and away for a good cause: Condor and Peanuts are celebrating the 60th birthday of Snoopy & Co., with a donation campaign in support of the relief agency “Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen e. V.“, or “Wings of Help”. Children’s projects organized by the agency will be supported via proceeds from ticket sales, on-board sales, auctions and more. The cartoon heroes will also be gracing one aircraft per fleet from now on. Worthwhile causes are also a top priority at Christmas, when Condor converts the Christmas greetings sent by employees and users into donations. This campaign alone resulted in the collection of € 30,000.
Condor is equipping its A320 fleet with a new cabin interior in order to offer its passengers maximum comfort. The new cabin impresses with its bright design and improved functionality. 50 kilograms in weight and the equivalent in fuel can be saved per aircraft. Sound insulation has also been improved.
Fans of Latin America have a reason to rejoice: Condor has been flying from Frankfurt/Main to Panama every Thursday since November. Thanks to the collaboration with Copa Airlines, Panama’s leading airline, passengers benefit from convenient transfers to many other attractive destinations on the South American continent. More good news: Condor is expanding its partnership with Brazilian airline GOL and enhances its flight program by more than 18 additional destinations across Brazil.
Condor’s passions have doubled since October. Facebook has joined flying as the company’s second major interest! The launch of its official Facebook profile has allowed Condor to establish a direct dialog with fans and customers. Current news and travel tips, surveys and other topics are discussed at http://www.facebook.com/condor, and the profile is attracting more fans by the day.
With annual transportation capacity of around 6 million passengers and over 70 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the US, Condor is one of the leading leisure airlines in the world. With 13 departure airports in Germany, it is available to customers throughout the country.
Condor operates the aircraft types Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 757-300 and Airbus A320-200. All Boeing types are maintained by Condor Technik GmbH, all Airbus types are maintained by the technical section of Condor Berlin GmbH, both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Condor Flugdienst GmbH. The maintenance is carried out to Lufthansa standards, and therefore guarantees the highest possible quality.
Condor Technik GmbH, Condor’s technical division for the Boeing fleet, has approx. 160 highly qualified members of staff who are responsible for operational maintenance and repairs, and rectify faults at the Frankfurt/Main home base and various external stations.
Major technical checks are allocated individually to highly skilled centers.
Condor Berlin GmbH, operator of the Airbus A320-200 fleet, has its own maintenance facilities in Berlin. The technical division of Condor Berlin GmbH employs approx. 80 highly qualified and experienced staff. Major technical checks are carried out at the parent base in Berlin Schönefeld in cooperation with Lufthansa’s technical division. Daily checks at external stations are carried out by Condor Berlin GmbH’s technicians, and at certain individual stations by Lufthansa staff.
Airbus A320-200
The 12 Airbus A320-200 aircraft are used on short- and mediumhaul routes to the most popular holiday destinations in Europe and to North Africa. Up to 32 seats in Premium Economy Class will offer you an even more relaxed flying experience.
Every 3rd row will have a video monitor.
Boeing 767-300ER
The nine Boeing 767-300ER aircraft are used mainly on longhaul routes. The 18 Comfort Class seats and 35 Premium Economy Class seats offer you an even more relaxed flying experience.
Video monitors are installed in front of the following rows: 1, 6, 8, 11, 15, 22, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41.
Crash & Accidents
The airline has not been without incident, although thankfully none recently and despite the following incidents, it's a very safe airline to fly.
On 17 October 1958, a Deutsche Flugdienst (as the airline was called at that time) Vickers VC.1 Viking (registered D-BELA) on a cargo flight had to carry out a forced landing near Zele in Belgium due to an engine fire. Upon impact, the aircraft caught fire and was destroyed, but all three crew members on board survived.
On 31 July 1960, a Deutsche Flugdienst Convair CV-240 (registered D-BELU) enroute from Frankfurt to Rimini experienced failures in both engines upon approaching Rimini Airport. The pilots had to carry out an emergency landing 1000 metres short of the runway, which resulted in the death of one passenger (out of 30, with additional four crew members on board) and the aircraft being written off.
On 20 July 1970, a Condor Boeing 737-100 (registered D-ABEL) which was approaching Reus Airport, collided with a privately owned Piper Cherokee light aircraft (registration EC-BRU) near Tarragona, Spain. The Piper subsequently crashed, resulting in the death of the three persons on board. The Condor Boeing suffered only minor damage, and there were no injuries amongst the 95 passengers and 5 crew members.
On 2 January 1988 at 19:18 local time, Condor Flight 3782, a Boeing 737-200 (registered D-ABHD) on a chartered service from Stuttgart to Izmir, crashed into a hill near Seferihisar whilst approaching Adnan Menderes Airport, killing all 11 passengers and 5 crew members on board. A flawed ILS-approach was given as cause for the accident
On 24 June 1992, a Condor Boeing 767-300 (registered D-ABUZ) took a wrong turn after departing Porlamar Airport in Venezuela on a charter flight back to Germany, resulting in an overflight of mountainous terrain at a low altitude. The aircraft hit a TV mast on top of El Copey. Despite a vast amount of damage to the wing, the pilot was able to control the aircraft and return to land, no one was hurt in the incident.
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