Lufthansa rejects German government’s conditions on rescue deal

The German government has agreed to help Lufthansa with a rescue program worth around €9 billion in exchange for a blocking minority and one or two Board of Directors mandates, says financial website Business Insider. But the German airline rejects the federal government’s conditions. 

Last week, Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr said that the Lufthansa Group was burning cash at a fast rate and needed help to survive. Lufthansa started discussing with the authorities from the four countries in which it had operations either directly or through a subsidiary: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.

Lufthansa is said to be in the market for a loan of €290 million from the Belgian government for Brussels Airlines. According to the Belgian news channel VRT, Lufthansa has no plans to sell its Belgian subsidiary. CEO Carsten Spohr would prefer the airline group stays together.

[Update] According to information from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Lufthansa rejects the federal government’s conditions for a rescue package and instead examines an insolvency-like protective shield procedure (Schutzschirmverfahren), as holiday airline Condor has already undergone. In such a procedure, the company would be placed under the supervision of an administrator and could undertake the reorganization under the previous management.

Other sources reported to press agency Reuters that the German government and Lufthansa have not yet reached an agreement on an emergency rescue package.

Read more: German government agrees rescue package worth 9 billion euros for Lufthansa: Business insider (Business Insider)

Rettungspaket für Lufthansa droht zu scheitern (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)