German court begins protection proceedings for Thomas Cook's Condor

FRANKFURT/MUNICH, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Germany's Condor, which is owned by British travel operator Thomas Cook, said on Thursday that a Frankfurt court had begun investor protection proceedings that should allow the airline to be restructured.

Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel firm, collapsed this week, sparking a scramble for survival among many of its subsidiaries.

Germany said on Tuesday it would guarantee a 380 million euro ($419 million) bridging loan for Condor to enable it to continue flying and save jobs.

A precondition for the type of investor protection proceedings in Germany that is being used in the Condor case is that a company is not yet insolvent and can be saved.

Condor and Thomas Cook GmbH, the second-biggest tour operator in Germany after TUI, are both independent units of the insolvent British parent company.

Lucas Floether, who is working on the wind up of Air Berlin, will supervise the process, Condor said. (Reporting by Alexander Hübner and Ilona Wissenbach, writing by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Alexander Smith)