OBERURSEL, Germany (AFX) - Thomas Cook AG, Europe's second-largest travel company by revenue, said Tuesday that sales in the first nine months of the year rose 2 percent to euro5.01 billion (US$6.36 billion) as the company benefited from rising demand in Germany and sold more flights on its discount airline.
Passenger numbers at the company's cut-price Condor airline rose 9.4 percent to 5.28 million passengers during the period. Still, gross profit at the airline dropped 5.8 percent to euro1.09 million (US$1.38 million) in the nine-month period, crimped by rising fuel costs. The company did not give a net profit figure.
'The fact that development has not been better is due to the World Cup and avian flu, which kept lots of British travelers at home,' the company said, adding that the threat of terrorism also dampened demand slightly. 'The outlook for the remaining three months of the business year is positive.'
Thomas Cook is jointly owned by Deutsche Lufthansa AG and retailer KarstadtQuelle AG.
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