Lufthansa boss
Carsten Spohr
(54) is currently not to be envied. Countless flight passengers are pondering whether they can still dare to board an airplane in view of the new Corona variant Omikron - and when the next travel restrictions will come, with which the planned trip abroad might end.
Lufthansa
still flies
passengers to the USA and South Africa and brings many frozen northern Europeans to the south at the end of the year. But the increasing uncertainty is poison for business: The Christmas business is extremely important for the entire aviation industry and can make the difference between profits and losses in the fourth quarter.
Spohr can share these problems with all other airline bosses in the world, so half the suffering.
But the Lufthansa chief pilot is also struggling with the growing displeasure of investors.
They demand fresh ideas from Spohr on the subject of climate protection, digitization and an answer to the question of how the crane airline wants to win back its customers from pre-pandemic times.
In short: Nothing at Lufthansa should stay the same as it was before Corona.
My colleague Michael Machatschke wrote down what Spohr urgently needs to change in order to make Lufthansa future-proof: It is worth reading, not just for a long-haul flight.
The economic news of the day:
In view of the strongly mutated Omicron variant, Biontech boss
Uğur Şahin
assumes that we will soon need a new vaccine against the coronavirus. "I basically believe that we will need a new vaccine against this new variant from a certain point in time," said Şahin on Friday. However, he expects that the existing Covid-19 vaccine from
Biontech / Pfizer will
also offer clear protection against serious disease
courses
with the new Omikron variant. In addition, two facts are still valid: Vaccinations protect against serious Covid diseases. And Biontech could adjust its vaccine relatively quickly if necessary. Like vaccine manufacturers Biontech / Pfizer and
Moderna
You can find out how to react to Omikron now in our podcast.
Europe's largest insurer Allianz is increasing the dividend and intends to do so regularly in the years to come.
Investors and those who joined
Allianz
at today's "Capital Markets Day"
were delighted.
We have already reported to you
that Allianz boss
Oliver Bäte
places such news very carefully in order to get the shareholders behind him and to expand his power despite the overall mediocre balance sheet.
More women on the supervisory boards: Now the US investment bank
Goldman Sachs
, so far not a haven of emancipation and diversity, is
increasing
the pressure on companies.
As a major shareholder, Goldman's asset manager GSAM only wants to approve personnel changes in companies if certain criteria are met.
This has consequences for corporate executives, not just in the USA.
What else was on our mind:
He was a "big donor" - at least for political parties. Billionaire
August von Finck Jr. died
at the age of 91, as it became known today. Finck was considered one of the richest Germans, among other things, he was at times majority owner of the
Mövenpick
hotel chain
. His family owned the Munich private bank Merck Finck & Co., and Finck also inherited a share in the Löwenbräu brewery. In 1999 he moved to Switzerland to save taxes, and until 2018 he owned a majority in Möwenpick. Finck was best known for his party financing: At the time of
Franz Josef Strauss
he donated large sums to the CSU, and in 2010 a million donation to the FDP was made public.
Spicy: In the coalition negotiations with the Union shortly before, the FDP had pushed through the lowering of the VAT rate on hotel stays from 19 to 7 percent - henceforth known as the "Mövenpick tax".
The best of the "Economist":
The Omikron variant is also the dominant theme for the "Economist".
China seemed to have already overcome the corona pandemic and its economic consequences, write our British colleagues.
But Omikron threatens a new setback for China's economy and an endurance test for the regime in Beijing.
In the general stock market blues (the Dax continued to tumble down today) investors are wondering which investments they can still keep loyal to despite falling portfolio values.
The Economist describes the three biggest risks that are currently jeopardizing the economic recovery in emerging markets.
My recommendation for the evening:
In order to permanently reduce emissions, semi-trailers also need a battery or hydrogen drive.
The truck manufacturer Daimler Truck, which has just split off from Daimler, relies on the eActros, which is supposed to transport up to 16 tons of payload 400 kilometers on one battery charge.
Tesla plans to bring its "Semi" electric semi-trailer to market in 2022.
However, truck drivers currently still have a tangible problem with the charging stations: You can read here how the trucks can still start emission-free in the future.
Sincerely, Kai Lange