Condor celebrates maiden flight:Leisure carrier bases brand new Airbus in Schönefeld. The A321 is named the “Voyager Android”
06.06.13 17:12At the aircraft christening ceremony, Miss Berlin and Miss Germany 2010, Anne Julia Hagen, named the aircraft “Voyager Android“, a name chosen with the help of a naming competition within the Thomas Cook Group. The term “Voyager Android” was coined by the Chief Executive Officer of the Thomas Cook Group, Harriet Green. It refers to the holiday and travel company’s vision of always being available for its customers, regardless of where the customer happens to be. The name also stands for the future of the company, for technology, comfort and the best customer service.
“With specifications that are precisely tailored to our passengers’ needs and the very latest technology, the Airbus A321-211 stands for the concept of the “Voyager Android” and for the future of the company. The new Airbus is the first of 23 aircraft of this type that are being delivered to the Thomas Cook Airline Group by 2016”, said Uwe Balser, Managing Director of Operations at Condor Flugdienst GmbH today at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. “As a leisure carrier at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport, we are delighted that our newest addition has its home base here and will be serviced by our own technical services company here in Schönefeld.”
“Our congratulations to Condor on the new Airbus A321-211“, said Hartmut Mehdorn, Chief Executive Officer of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH. “With half a million passengers and growth of 67 per cent in 2012, Condor in the eighth-biggest customer in Berlin, a trend which has continued in the first quarter of 2013. Condor’s operations in Schönefeld are a clear commitment to Berlin as an aviation site. We wish the new Airbus and Condor clear skies and safe flying at all times.”
The leisure carrier Condor currently has four aircraft stationed in Berlin-Schönefeld. The airline’s flight schedule from Berlin-Schönefeld in Summer 2013 includes the Canary Islands and Mallorca, Funchal on Madeira, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Larnaca on Cyprus, Burgas in Bulgaria and a number of destinations in Greece.
Condor Flugdienst GmbH has been flying its passengers to the world’s loveliest holiday destinations since 1956. Every year, 6.7 million passengers fly with Condor to around 75 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Condor is Germany’s favourite airline: in a customer satisfaction survey conducted by the German Institute for Service Quality (DISQ) in December 2012, Condor was the test winner and was the only airline to be awarded a rating of “Very Good”. On 1 March 2013, the German airline Condor was merged with the two carriers Thomas Cook Airlines UK and Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium to form the Thomas Cook Airline Segment. The fleet of the Thomas Cook Group comprises 91 modern and environmentally friendly aircraft, of which 38 aircraft are from the Condor fleet: twelve Airbus A320s, one Airbus A321, thirteen Boeing 757-300s and twelve Boeing 767-300s. The aircraft are maintained by the airlines’ own technical companies.