Lufthansa aims to finalise 10 billion rescue package next week: sources

By Arno Schuetze, Klaus Lauer and Patricia Uhlig

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Lufthansa is aiming to finalise a state aid rescue package worth up to 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) next week after the coronavirus crisis forced it to ground almost all of its planes, people close to the matter said.

The package will consist of equity from Germany’s new economic stabilisation fund (ESF), of state-guaranteed loans from Germany and of debt supplied by Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, where Lufthansa subsidiaries are based, they added.

Lufthansa said that it is in intensive negotiations with the governments regarding various financing instruments to secure the Group’s solvency in the near future, as reported a first-quarter loss of 1.2 billion euros late on Thursday.

The company declined to comment further. The German government declined to comment.

(Additional reporting by Christian Krmer, Francois Murphy, Paul Arnold, Phil Blenkinsop,; Editing by Ludwig Burger and Elaine Hardcastle)