AIRWAYS FEATURE
6 Except for five transatlantic flights out of Dusseldorf , Frankfurt Airport is the only other long-haul hub for Condor Flugdienst .
7 You can taste authentic German gastronomy with elegantly presented meals on Condor ’ s Business Class long-haul flights .
8 On the left , Ron Nirenberg , mayor of San Antonio . On the right , is Mikko Turtiainen , our special interviewee on this story .
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importantly , it caused the whole Thomas Cook Group to go bankrupt after more than 170 years in business .
Thomas Cook ’ s sudden collapse left approximately 600.000 passengers stranded around the world , and forced governments to perform miracles to enable travelers to return home as soon as possible .
The most notable among such repatriation campaigns was that performed by the UK Civil Aviation Authority ( CAA ) under the name ‘ Operation Matterhorn ’, in reference to a WWII military operation executed by the United States , which was known for the complex organization and logistics it had involved .
Between September 23 and October 6 , the CAA managed to carry more than 150.000 British tourists back to the United Kingdom on almost 750 flights operated with over 40
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aircraft from wet-lease and ACMI airlines , including Atlas Air , HiFly , and Wamos Air .
However , the most iconic airplane used in Operation Matterhorn was , conveniently , the largest : the Airbus A380 . During this unique campaign , the CAA chartered a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A380 to carry almost 500 passengers three times a day from Palma de Mallorca to Manchester .
From the German perspective , Condor found itself orphaned and alone . Every minute was crucial to quickly securing funding and support . It was vital to keep flights running at least until a definitive solution to the problem could be found . The day after the Thomas Cook bankruptcy , the Federal Government of Germany announced a six-month bridging loan of € 380 million to avoid Condor ’ s collapse .
60 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2024 www . airwaysmag . com