Poland's LOT Pulls Plug on Condor Takeover

Warsaw (dpa) - Polish airline LOT said it was stepping back from buying Condor, a German airline specializing in holiday flights.

A spokesman for LOT's parent company PGL told dpa on Monday that Condor had been informed of the decision, but did not give any details as to what motivated the move.

The state-owned PGL emerged as a new investor for Condor at the beginning of this year, but in recent days doubts emerged about the deal, which was concluded in January.

It is likely that LOT itself will need government support to survive the coronavirus pandemic which has reduced air travel to almost zero.

"In the case of LOT, we certainly cannot do without public aid," Poland's Finance Minister Jacek Sasin recently told TVN24.

The airline's board was working on a rescue plan in case flights are interrupted for many more months.

Condor has been hit hard by the collapse of its parent company Thomas Cook last year. A German court authorized measures to protect investors of the Frankfurt-based airline.

The protection plan of the insolvency specialist Lucas Floether provided for the sale of Condor with more than 50 aircraft and about 4,900 employees to PGL.

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