Germany considers 400 million euro loan for Thomas Cook's Condor: sources

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government and state of Hesse want to jointly support Condor, the German airline owned by insolvent British travel operator Thomas Cook, with a bridging loan of almost 400 million euros ($439.92 million), government sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The sources said a decision on the financial support was expected later on Tuesday evening.

Germany's economy ministry and the state of Hesse declined to comment.

The airline said on Monday it would continue operations despite its parent company's collapse and that it had asked the German government for a bridging loan.

Earlier, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier had said the government would decide within the next few days on whether to offer financial support to Condor.

Condor, based in the western state of Hesse, employs about 4,500 people. It has stressed that it is a profitable enterprise and expects earnings before interest and tax to rise in the current financial year ending Sept. 30 from about 43 million euros previously.

The British government opted against bailing out Thomas Cook as it would have been a waste of taxpayers' money to throw good money into a business that was not meeting the needs of its customers, a British minister said earlier on Tuesday.