Thomas Cook Branding Scrapped By Condor

Yesterday, Condor unveiled its new livery. Well... sort of. It's actually going back to having its original logo on the tail of its aircraft - which is more reminiscent of the Lufthansa crane. The first aircraft to be converted is a Boeing 767 with the registration D-ABUF. This particular bird will make its first flight in the new Condor livery to Cancun (Mexico). It will take several weeks for all tail units to be converted over to the new design.

This livery change comes after the unfortunate demise of leisure/holiday group Thomas Cook. The use of Thomas Cook's logo on the tail in combination with "Condor" across the side of the aircraft (in a font identical to Thomas Cook) was meant to signify a sense of unity with a small hint of separate identity. The colors of charcoal grey and golden yellow also tied the two airline liveries together.

Now with Thomas Cook dissolved, the Condor logo is back on the tail of its aircraft - particularly due to "trademark reasons". This is what the airline's CEO had to say in the airline's official press release:

"After the final separation from Thomas Cook, the Thomas Cook logo and the heart logo must be completely removed for trademark reasons. After 16 years, the Condor logo will return to the tails of our aircraft, which makes especially every person working for Condor very proud. Condor and our logo is a strong brand that has signified Germany's most popular airline for 64 years." -Ralf Teckentrup, CEO of Condor.

Condor Boeing 767-330(ER) — The Condor livery under Thomas Cook ownership. Photo: Oliver Holzbauer / Wikimedia Commons

The slow conversion process

According to Airfleets, the fleet size of Condor stands at 48 and includes a mix of Airbus A320s and A321s. On the Boeing side, it operates the narrowbody 757 as well as the 767 for long-haul routes.

Condor says that the tail units of its fleet will be revised with decals in the coming weeks as part of their regular maintenance. In fact, nothing else will change in the rest of the paintwork.

Condor Boeing 727-230 — The Condor livery on a Boeing 727, long before Thomas Cook ownership.Photo: Kambui / Wikimedia Commons

Back to Lufthansa?

There has been some speculation several times in the last year that the airline is being sought after by Lufthansa. Lufthansa was actually an original shareholder with 26% ownership of Condor at its founding. This increased to 100% in 1959-1960.

More recently, the Lufthansa Group had made a move to re-acquire the company when Thomas Cook had put its airline business up for sale. This was back in May. However, according to Skift, a deal failed to materialize at the time.

At this time there are no new reports of a renewed interest by Lufthansa. But the company has certainly caused a buzz in recent times as it signaled some interest in struggling Italian flag carrier Alitalia.