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Lufthansa long-haul aircraft: what chances are smaller rivals remaining?
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Lufthansa is threatened with new trouble: According to a preliminary examination by the Federal Cartel Office, the airline is abusing its market power in the fight for tourist long-haul passengers.
That said the President of the Cartel Office, Andreas Mundt, at the request of the dpa news agency.
The background to this is a complaint from the vacation airline Condor to the authorities.
Lufthansa terminated the long-term flat-rate contract for feeder flights to Condor long-distance travel last November.
This makes connecting connections with a change of airline more difficult to book.
"After preliminary examination, we are of the opinion that the termination represents an abuse of market power," said Mundt.
The authority is now in talks with Lufthansa about the next steps.
"It would of course be welcomed if Lufthansa would let the contract with Condor continue, as some press reports of the past few days showed," said Mundt.
The EU Commission had previously discussed the negative effects of the termination of the contract.
The Lufthansa Group wants to get more involved in the business of long-haul tourist flights and has therefore founded the new "Eurowings Discover" operation, in which tourist flights are to be bundled.
Condor used to be a Lufthansa subsidiary itself, but has become self-employed with the help of a large government loan since the Thomas Cook Group went down.
Lufthansa was also saved by the state in the corona crisis.
mic / dpa