Condor "is very successful with its niche strategy in long distance routes" and is building up its fleet "successively with additional aircraft", said Peter Fankhauser.

The package tours airline posted a profit of 70 million pounds last year.

"I don't need to tell you what kind of performance that is," he said.

Airlines across the world have been battered by weak demand and high jet fuel prices, plunging many into the red.

Australia's Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) warned of its first annual net loss since it was privatised in 1995, sending shares to a record low, while Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) - the world's second largest carrier - swung to an unexpected fourth-quarter loss.

Airlines like Condor will be crucial for the civilian aircraft operations of Boeing (BA.N) and EADS (EAD.PA).

A summer battle for aircraft orders is underway in the global jet industry, which gathers in Beijing on Sunday for the first of two crucial events in two months, pitting the world's largest planemakers against each other in a race for deals worth $50 billion at catalogue prices.

(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency