The German airline Condor’s deal to be taken over by Poland’s flagship carrier LOT for €300m has been called off. There were signals already in March that the transaction, which had looked set to go until just a couple of months ago, was falling apart as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic would have on the airline industry became clear. The German magazine Spiegel Online was the first to report that LOT had suddenly brought up a new set of demands that appeared so extreme to the German side that they looked to be designed to scupper the deal. A spokesman for PGL, the company that owns LOT, confirmed that the deal had been called off but refused to provide any additional information. Media reports claim that the German government is likely to nationalize the airline. Condor’s situation has been complicated for some time due to the bankruptcy of its parent company, the British travel agency Thomas Cook.
