President Andreas Mundt told dpa on Tuesday that a preliminary investigation has shown that the airline’s decision to cancel its flat-rate contract with smaller airline Condor made it harder for passengers to book long-haul flights.

The move makes it more difficult to book Condor flights in conjunction with a connecting Lufthansa flight and therefore discourages passengers from using Condor at all.

“After preliminary examination, we are of the opinion that the termination represents an abuse of market power,” said Mundt. The authority is now in talks with Lufthansa about the next steps.

“It would of course be welcomed if Lufthansa would let the contract with Condor continue to run,” said Mundt.

According to media reports, the European Commission has also addressed the negative effects of the termination of the contract.

The Lufthansa Group wants to get more involved in the business of long-haul flights and has founded the new “Eurowings Discover” operation, with which tourist flights are to be bundled.

Eurowings is Lufthansa’s low-cost subsidiary.

Condor used to be a Lufthansa subsidiary itself and has stood on its own two feet with the help of a large government loan since the Thomas Cook Group filed for bankruptcy.