FILE PHOTO: Airplanes of German carrier Lufthansa at the Berlin Schoenefeld airport, Germany, May 26, 2020. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo
May 27, 2020
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Lufthansa’s <LHAG.DE> supervisory board postponed approval of a 9 billion euro ($9.90 billion) bailout in light of conditions imposed by the European Union, the German airline group said on Wednesday.
Lufthansa’s supervisory board had been expected to meet Wednesday to sign off on the rescue deal, but the European Commission has asked Lufthansa to waive landing rights for six out of 300 slots at Frankfurt and Munich airports, where Lufthansa has a two-thirds market share.
Lufthansa said the demand would “lead to a weakening” of the hub function at its home airports.
“The resulting economic impact on the company and on the planned repayment of the stabilisation measures, as well as possible alternative scenarios, must be analysed intensively,” Lufthansa said.
The supervisory board nevertheless continues to regard the bailout plan “as the only viable alternative for maintaining solvency”, Lufthansa said.
(Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; writing by Tom Sims; editing by Thomas Seythal and Michael Shields)
