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Lufthansa to sell Thomas Cook holidays group to retailer: sources

Dec 22, 2006, 13:00 GMT

Frankfurt - German flag carrier Lufthansa is on the verge of selling its joint-venture Thomas Cook package-holidays company to the venture partner, German retail group KarstadtQuelle, company sources in Frankfurt said Friday. KarstadtQuelle would also obtain the 10 per cent of the holiday airline Condor which it does not own and which is held by Lufthansa, the sources said. Such a deal would spell defeat for labour interests who had pushed for airline Lufthansa to take over Condor outright. Condor operates holiday charter flights, not point-to-point scheduled services. Thomas Cook is a major holiday provider in Britain and Germany. Lufthansa and KarstadtQuelle, which each hold 50 per cent of Thomas Cook, were expected to make an announcement later Friday. A Lufthansa spokeswoman said 'There isn't any deal yet. The talks are continuing.' A Karstadt spokesman said the claims by the sources were 'rumours'. The Thomas Cook chief executive of the past year, Thomas Holtrop, suddenly resigned his post in the past week. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Lufthansa to sell Thomas Cook holidays group to retailer: sources

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