Feb. 12—FRANKFURT — German airline Condor has filed a lawsuit against the European Union regarding state aid paid do its crisis-hit competitor Lufthansa, a company spokesperson confirmed to dpa on Friday.
The lawsuit was filed to an EU court in Luxembourg, urging the court to review the requirements for the 9 billion euros (10.9 billion dollars) in state aid paid by the EU to Lufthansa.
Condor, which has benefited from state aid as well, argued that Lufthansa was using its market power to distort competition, and called for stricter state aid requirements for the firm.
Lufthansa has refused to comment on the matter, saying that it is not the accused in the case.
Condor has also filed competition proceedings against Lufthansa with the German cartel office, which are under way.
Late last year, Lufthansa terminated a contract with Condor regarding cooperation on long-distance connection flights, as it wants to provide that service itself through a new platform called Eurowings Discover.
As Condor is smaller than Lufthansa, it cannot provide the same type of flights network alone.
This also means that Condor's connection flights will be more difficult and riskier to book for customers, as, for instance, issues due to delays on a connection will not be covered by a partner airline any more.
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