State aid to Lufthansa is still not dry. The company is working to restart air traffic, which almost came to a standstill in the Corona crisis.
Berlin (dpa) - In the middle of negotiations for state aid, Lufthansa has fleshed out plans for expanding the flight offer from June.
According to this, around 20 destinations are to be flown to again from Frankfurt in the second half of June - including Heraklion (Crete), Rhodes, Dubrovnik, Faro, Venice, Ibiza and Malaga. The holiday island of Mallorca is to be flown to significantly more frequently from mid-June. A Lufthansa spokesman confirmed a report by "Bild am Sonntag" on Sunday.
Meanwhile, negotiations between the federal government and the company for billions in government aid continued on Sunday. Lufthansa came under heavy pressure in the Corona crisis. The group threatens to run out of money.
The Spanish government announced that it would open the borders to foreign tourists in July. In Lufthansa circles it was pointed out that on flights already taking place to Mallorca, for example, passengers with dual nationality are often on board.
Lufthansa had already announced in mid-May that it would expand its offering again in June. This has now been clarified. Europe's largest aviation group plans to fly 1,800 connections per week in the group again at the end of June. That is about 14 percent of the program planned before Corona with around 13,000 connections. 106 destinations in Germany and Europe and 20 long-haul destinations will then be reached. This corresponds to a good third of the original network.
The Corona virus with the following travel restrictions had almost brought global air traffic to a standstill with the exception of freight. Lufthansa reduced passenger operations to a minimum and in the meantime only flew just under 1 percent of the passengers compared to the previous year. In the meantime, traffic is slowly starting up again.
When negotiating a Lufthansa rescue package, it was also unclear on Sunday when exactly the outcome would be. It was questionable when exactly the relevant committee of the State Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) would meet. Representatives of the leading federal ministries are primarily located in it.
Politically, there has been agreement in the federal government for a few days. In addition to multi-billion euro loans from the State Bank KfW and silent participations, the federal government intends to initially hold a 20 percent stake in Lufthansa. This would be below the blocking minority with which important decisions could be blocked.
The federal government and companies had made it clear a few days ago that they expected a decision in the negotiations shortly. According to information from "Bild am Sonntag", Lufthansa should only repay the billion dollar loan at the end of 2023.
Technical and legal questions still need to be clarified with the rescue plan. The WSF steering committee will then submit a final offer to Lufthansa for a support package. Then the management boards of Lufthansa deal with it. Strict EU requirements must be taken into account in the rescue plan - the EU Commission must agree. Participation may only be temporary, the state must develop an "exit strategy".
