Andrzej Jeziorski/Munich
German tour operator Frosch Touristik International (FTI) is to found its own airline. Operations are due to get under way early next year with a fleet of three Airbus A320s. The name of the airline and its home base remain to be announced.
According to FTI chairman Dietmar Gunz, the new airline will not affect the existing co-operation with Britannia Germany. "We will continue to stick to our contracts and serve long-haul destinations in the Caribbean and USA with our partner," he says.
Munich-based FTI says that Britannia Germany, an offshoot of UK charter operator Britannia Airways, has also been serving the Mediterranean holiday destinations of Majorca and Malta for the tour operator with Boeing 767s, but, from the fourth quarter of this year, the partnership will be restricted to long-haul operations.
The tour operator says it expects to receive assistance from UK shareholder Airtours, which owns 29.03% of FTI, and has the option of buying all the FTI Group's shares up to 2002.
Airtours is the second biggest travel group in Europe and already owns three airlines - Airtours International in the UK, Air Belgium and Scandinavia's Premiair.
The recent acquisition of FTI shares by Airtours is expected to spell the end of Britannia's link with the tour operator once existing contracts expire in 2001. Britannia is owned by Airtours rival Thomson Travel.
Britannia flies all its routes from Germany for FTI Group members. According to the carrier, it intends to develop co-operation with other German tour operators in the future, but has not established any other partnerships to date. With Thomson Travel seeking to build up its business in Europe, the airline could be waiting for its parent to provide customers after 2001.
FTI has hired Herbert Kracker, previously head of operations at Britannia Germany, as its new airline's head of operations.
Britannia Germany operates two 767-300ERs and will shortly take delivery of a third. The airline will add Orlando in Florida, Banjul in Gambia and Cancun in Mexico to its destinations this year.
Swissair parent SAirGroup says that it is about a month away from closing a long-awaited deal to buy up to 49.9%of German charter operator LTU. The company says that the due diligence process has been completed and that the two items remaining to be resolved are the final sale price and which party will hold the remaining shares.
LTU is now mostly owned by the Colne family, which founded the company. A further 34.3% is held by the Westdeutsche Landesbank, which is understood to be planning to retain a 10% stake.
The SAirGroup says that it is interested only in the airline side of LTU's business, and that it needs an appropriate partner to run tour operator LTU Touristik. Sources close to the talks say that Deutsche Bahn, the German railway network, is interested, as is the Swiss tour operator Hotelplan. Thomson has also been involved in the negotiations, but sources say that the UK company appears to have backed away recently.
European Union regulations prevent SAirGroup from buying an outright majority in the German company. The Swiss group says, however, that it is aiming for the biggest stake it can buy.
SAirGroup says that the acquisition would help it establish a foothold in Europe. "In our multi-hub strategy it would be very interesting to have Düsseldorf, which is only 35min flying time from Zurich," the group adds.
Source: Flight International
