Condor flights will return to Yukon next year, company says

Condor Airlines says it has no plans to cutits seasonal flights between Frankfurt and Whitehorsedespite the collapse this week of its parent company, tour operator Thomas Cook.

The German airlinesays it has been promised 380 million($550million) from the German government and the state of Hesse to meet its cash needs for six months.

Condor says it's profitable but needs ready cash to operate over the winter.

"We are very proud to serve Yukon and plan to do so in the future,"Magdalena Hauser, Condor's head of external communications, told Radio-Canada on Thursday.

The German airline this year marked its 20th summerof weekly flights between Frankfurt and Whitehorse. It's a roughly nine-hour direct flight between the two cities.

Condor's last flight out of Whitehorse for 2019 happened on Sunday. Within a day,Thomas Cook's financial woesweremaking headlines as it ceased all operations and left thousands of travellers stranded around the world.

Yukon Tourism Minister Jeanie Dendyssays Condor's Yukon service is important for the territory's economy.

"It's our most important overseas market," she said.

"It brings about 4,700 passengers to Yukon on an annual basis, and so this is a relationship that we've worked to foster over 20 years."

Dendys said Tourism Yukon officials will visit Germany next month to talk about Condor's future in Yukon.