Lufthansa and Thomas Cook talk merger with TUI Travel

TUI Travel has confirmed that it is in discussion with German carrier Lufthansa and UK travel operator Thomas Cook regarding a merger of their respective budget airline operations, Condor, Germanwings and TUIfly Germany.

At this stage, no commercial terms for such an arrangement have been agreed, according to West Sussex-based TUI Travel. The travel company also stressed that it is not certain that an agreement will be forthcoming.

On 29 January, TUI signed a memorandum of understanding with both Lufthansa and Albrecht Knauf Industriebeteiligung that allowed the parties to move forward with plans for a merger under a joint, independent holding company.

By mid August, TUI Travel had announced its plans to merge its Hapag-Lloyd Flug and Hapag-Lloyd Express operations with Lufthansa’s Eurowings Luftverkehrs and Germanwings. For this to occur, TUI said that it “continues to hold substantive discussions with Lufthansa.”

A relatively new company, TUI Travel was formed in September of 2007 by a merger of the tourism arms of TUI AG with First Choice Holidays, after TUI AG had acquired First Choice.

Thomas Cook was formed a few months earlier, in June of 2007, by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group. The newly-formed company has become one of the leading leisure travel groups in the world, with turnover of approximately GBP 9 billion, coming in from over 19 million customers. Thomas Cook boasts a fleet of nearly 100 aircraft and also a network of the company boasts of a fleet of 97 aircraft, a network of over 3,000 travel store franchises and numerous hotels and resorts.

www.tui-group.com