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A final decision in merger talks between Thomas Cook's charter airline Condor, TUI Travel's TUIfly and Lufthansa's Germanwings is expected to be reached soon.

Published: 15 Sep 2008

A final decision in merger talks between Thomas Cook's charter airline Condor, TUI Travel's TUIfly and Lufthansa's Germanwings is expected to be reached soon.

"Pretty soon we will have to give the Condor staff some certainty," said Thomas Cook's CEO, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, reportedly said. "It isn't weeks, hopefully not too many months."

The possible merger between the three airlines would create a carrier with 142 aircraft carrying 30 million passengers annually, putting it ahead of Air Berlin, which carries 28 million passengers each year in its 133 aircraft.

Recently, TUI Travel stated that it was in early discussions with Lufthansa and Thomas Cook in relation to a potential merger of Condor, Germanwings and TUIfly Germany. The development was also confirmed by Thomas Cook.

One of the key issues of the deal is getting the approval from anti-trust authorities and Fontenla-Novoa said it looked promising that authorities would give their green light. He added that although there was no certainty that the deal was going to happen, if it did he would be seeking the same shareholding in the new company as everyone else in the deal at the very least.