UPDATE 1-Germany's Condor sets ambitious margin target to court buyers

(Adds more comments from CEO, background)

FRANKFURT, Dec 6 (Reuters) - German airline Condor plans to more than double its operating profit margin, its chief executive said, hoping to lure in potential investors that will take it over following the collapse of its parent Thomas Cook.

Condor, which filed for investor protection proceedings - which require that a business can still be saved - made adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of 57 million euros ($63 million) in the last fiscal year.

Its adjusted EBIT margin stood at about 3.4%, compared with 7.9% at larger rival Lufthansa.

"Healthy airlines need an 8% EBIT margin. That's also a reasonable target for Condor," Condor Chief Executive Ralf Teckentrup told Reuters.

"We need to improve profits by 70-80 million euros. Part of this needs to be realised in the current business year."

Condor last month said it had drawn substantial interest from potential buyers, declining to specify. It has previously said it was open to interest from rivals and private equity groups.

Teckentrup said it was "extremely likely" that a buyer would emerge in time to repay a 380 million euro loan the airline received from Germany to stay afloat. The loan needs to repaid by April 15, 2020.

"I'll still be sitting here in a year's time," he said.

($1 = 0.9073 euros) (Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Writing by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Tassilo Hummel and Christina Fincher)