Condor

Bulgaria Air starts offering flights to some of the most exotic destinations in the world.

Travel firm Thomas Cook reported an 8 percent rise in full year earnings, helped by a turnaround of its German airline Condor and improved customer demand, adding that bookings for Turkey and Egypt in summer 2018 were already very strong.

Insolvent German airline Air Berlin hopes to complete its sale by September, the group's chief executive said, as government officials fended off accusations of favoring Lufthansa in the bankruptcy process.

"We want to settle the sale in September at the latest, otherwise customers' trust in the airline will vanish," chief executive Thomas Winkelmann told newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Air Berlin is in talks with three competitors about buying up its assets, the insolvent airline's boss said on Aug. 17, warning that not all jobs would be saved.

"Aside from Lufthansa, we are in contact with two other interested parties from the aviation industry," Air Berlin chief executive Thomas Winkelmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

British travel company Thomas Cook posted broadly flat annual profit after its attempt to grow was hampered by customers turning their backs on holidays to Turkey, and said it was encouraged by future demand for trips abroad.