to cope with the crisis caused by the Covid-19, the German airline Lufthansa and the union of the personal flying UFO agreed on Wednesday 24 June, an agreement for € 500 million of savings including gels, compensation, early retirement, and periods of unemployment for the stewards and air hostesses.
Read also Orly reopens Friday : taking off, which is still on the floor ?
at the same time, the plan of rescue of 9 milliars euros in the first group of european air transport has been validated by the principal shareholder of Lufthansa, a German billionaire who threatened to vote against it. “I will vote for the draft agreement “, at the annual general meeting of shareholders to be held on Thursday, explained Heinz Hermann Thiele, a business man of 79 years, the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
The plan using door about 9 billion euros and provides for the return to the tune of 20 % of the State in the share capital of Lufthansa, immersed in it as the whole sector in an unprecedented crisis. Up here the billionaire, who owns 15.5% of the share capital of the company, had threatened to block the rescue plan. And he had the opportunity, given the importance of its units. The arrival of the German State among the shareholders of Lufthansa had attracted the criticism of Heinz Hermann Thiele, “self-made billionaire” to the verb the top and opinionated.
Renovation
It was feared in particular that the government is opposed to cuts in the workforce, necessary in his eyes to straighten out the company and revive the rise in the price of the share on the stock Exchange. Now, he seems convinced that the company will be able to do this even with the presence of the State in its capital.
Because, even with public assistance, the next few years promise to be complicated for Lufthansa. The restart will be very progressive: in September, the group plans to offer always less than 60% of normal. Eventually, the group will have a hundred planes less on its 763, which prior to the crisis, which has been nailed to the ground almost the entire fleet for nearly two months.
Read it is also Necessary to prevent the aircraft then take off ?
To adapt to this prolonged decline, Lufthansa account already delete 22 000 jobs full-time equivalent, 16% of the global workforce, half of which were in Germany. Negotiations are ongoing with the trade unions, but had suffered from the uncertainty around the rescue.
“It is in the interest of all the employees of Lufthansa that management can quickly lead to negotiations with the trade unions on the necessary restructuring,” said Wednesday, at FAZ shareholder, whose fortune is currently estimated by Forbes magazine at 15 billion euros. On Wednesday night, a first step has been achieved, with an agreement signed between the management and the trade union of flying personnel. It provides for the freezing of compensation, early retirement, and periods of unemployment for the stewards and hostesses of the air, indicated the two parties in a joint press release.
Motives uncertain
The motivations for the purchase of shares of Heinz Hermann Thiele, who has made a fortune in brakes for railways and trucks, remain unclear. “I will have an influence on the developments at Lufthansa in the future,” he said, without developing. The union Verdi has welcomed Wednesday the decision of the main shareholder, which allows to ensure the survival of the company and prevent a cessation of payment “.
Lufthansa had also warned that without help, “the company would certainly be in cessation of payment a few days after the general assembly” and should declare bankruptcy. In exchange after Exchange platform Tradegate, shares of Lufthansa were up 17% compared to the closing price of the regular exchanges.
also Read airline Sector : the State presents a plan of support to 15 billion euros
Concerning the different subsidiaries of Lufthansa, Austria was expected to assist Austria Airlines to the tune of 450 million euros, climb to the capital. In Switzerland, Bern is going to guarantee $ 1.2 billion of loans to subsidiaries Swiss and Edelweiss, while the negotiations are continuing in Belgium, where Brussels Airlines is going to remove a thousand jobs.
In addition to the job cuts, Lufthansa has already announced the closure of two subsidiaries, Germanwings and the German branch of SunExpress, owned in common with Turkish Airlines.
writing will advise you
These four taxes that Europe is considering
