Thomas Cook pulls out of Condor merger talks

Thomas Cook, Europe's second-biggest travel firm, said it had withdrawn from talks over a potential merger of its airline Condor, with TUI Travel's TUIfly and Lufthansa's Germanwings.
Thomas Cook also said trading in the summer 2008 season had been strong and was confident it was on track to meet its expectations for the full year, ending Sept 30.
The group said winter 2008/9 trading is in line with its expectations and particularly strong in the UK. For summer 2009, it said it has flexibility in capacity, cost base and fuel hedging to enable it to adapt for changes in demand.
Thomas Cook and its rival TUI Travel have been cutting capacity, leaving them with fewer holidays to sell and enabling them to avoid deep discounting on late bookings.
The group said 92 percent of its fuel requirements are hedged for winter 2008/9 and summer 2009 seasons, providing protection against increased prices.
Thomas Cook, created last year from the tie-up of Arcandor's travel unit and Britain's MyTravel, said it is on track to achieve merger synergies in excess of 155 million pounds by 2008/9.