The sale of the German charter airline Condor to the owner of the Polish airline LOT has failed. A spokesman for the state PGL confirmed its withdrawal from the deal. PGL informed Condor about what was happening on Monday without commenting on the topic in detail.

The move was not unexpected amid the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, as previously reported. About a week ago, it was rumored that the LOT itself needed state aid.

“In the case of the LOT, we certainly cannot cope without public assistance”, said Poland’s Finance Minister, Jacek Sasin. He added that flight connections will be interrupted for many months.

Thus, the possibility of temporary nationalization is emerging for the German charter airline Condor as well. It is also being discussed that KfW’s state bridge loan for 380 million EUR will be extended after April 15.

Due to the coronation crisis and significantly reduced flights, the holiday airline has already applied for an additional 200 million EUR loan from KfW as liquidity assistance. It is also unclear if there may be a new sales process.

Condor is a former unit of Thomas Cook, which announced bankruptcy in September 2019. The carrier was rescued through a government “bridge loan” of 380 million EUR.

Condor said days ago that it was in talks with all parties involved and that no decision had yet been taken on nationalization, declining to comment further on the topic.