Nerve war over Lufthansa is getting tougher

There is no dispute that the corona-damaged Lufthansa needs state aid. Management does not want to submit to too narrow a political leadership.

Berlin / Frankfurt (dpa) - The nerve war for billions in government aid for corona-damaged Lufthansa is getting tougher.

While the first reports of an alleged agreement were circulating on Tuesday morning, the management of the Dax group is thinking out loud about a possible insolvency, which could be handled in-house according to the example of Condor. The Swiss Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss, on the other hand, has made further progress.

There has not yet been an agreement on state aid, the German government said on Tuesday morning. According to further dpa information, it is not expected that the talks will be ended this week with a result. A company of this size and the possible amount of support must be used wisely, it said.

In the morning, the price of Lufthansa shares initially rose significantly at the start of trading. The reason was a report by the online business magazine "Business Insider" about an alleged agreement at work level. According to this, the Federal Republic is to pump around 9 billion euros into the troubled group, more than double the current market value. According to the portal, the government as a new shareholder would receive a blocking minority and one or two supervisory board mandates at Lufthansa.

However, the price gave in again during the day and sometimes even fell into the red. Instead of directly entering the state, Lufthansa is also examining self-administered bankruptcy, as a company spokesman confirmed. This so-called protective shield procedure could become an alternative if the group were threatened with uncompetitive conditions, for example due to high lending rates.

The Condor holiday aircraft has already undergone such a process. In this case, the company would be placed under the supervision of an administrator and could undertake the reorganization under the previous management. There is an opportunity to discharge numerous obligations towards suppliers and other creditors. Pension costs and unfavorable collective agreements are also up for discussion.

However, the Group is running out of time to get such a procedure with assets at all. Lufthansa airlines currently only fly around 1 percent of the usual program because of the corona restrictions. Despite massive short-time work, many fixed costs continue, so that the company loses around one million euros in cash every hour and the cash reserves of more than 4 billion euros melt. Interest and unfavorable kerosene contracts, which had assumed that the price of oil would be much higher than the current one, are a burden.

In an interview with the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit", Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr warned against excessive influence by the state on his company. It is very difficult to control a corporation if several governments want to influence operational business tasks. Aviation was always political, but it should never be a politically prescribed question, "whether we fly from Munich or Zurich to Osaka," said the CEO.

Spohr campaigned for trust in the decisions of his management. Lufthansa has had the three best years in its corporate history. "If it is to be successful in the future, it must continue to be able to shape its fate in an entrepreneurial manner." The manager received backing from the shareholders' association DSW. Lufthansa needs capital but no political influence, said its chief executive Marc Tüngler.

According to the cabin union Ufo, Spohr is said to have stated in an internal employee forum that he would rather lead the company into insolvency in the form of a protective shield procedure than let the politicians talk him into it. That was seen as a threat. A company spokesman denied that such a statement was made.

SPD leader Walter-Borjans insists on aid for Lufthansa meanwhile for the state to have a say. "There are good reasons to bail out a company that is healthy per se with public funds. But if the general public is to support a company with billions, it must also use the money in the public interest," he told the "Funke Mediengruppe" . In particular, this means that jobs will be preserved and the future will be taken into account when making business decisions. Resistance to political influence came from the Union's economic wing. State support for Lufthansa is only conceivable as a silent participation. "There can be no nationalization of Lufthansa with political influence on the company," said Bundestag MP Christoph Ploß.

The UFO hopes that direct entry into the state of Lufthansa will provide better protection of workers' rights and strategic advantages for German air traffic. In a concept paper, she questions, among other things, the domestic German flight connections and calls for closer coordination with other European airlines.

Last week Lufthansa reported a first quarterly operating loss of EUR 1.2 billion and announced even higher sums for the current months. You can no longer save yourself on your own. After earning billions of dollars in the past, his team has prepared for tough times. After the crisis, Lufthansa will probably have a fleet that is 100 aircraft smaller. This results in a calculated surplus of 10,000 employees.