Germany’s Lufthansa repays state aid granted during COVID-19 crisis

Berlin, Germany | Xinhua | German flag carrier Lufthansa has repaid the financial aid granted by the German government during the worst phase of the COVID-19 crisis and has transferred a final tranche of one billion euros (1.14 billion U.S. dollars) to the government’s Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF), also known as “silent participation,” the company said on Friday.

“The repayment was made much earlier than originally planned,” the company said in a statement. “This was made possible primarily by the rising demand for air travel, the fast restructuring and transformation of the Lufthansa Group and the capital markets’ confidence in the company.”

After Lufthansa had already repaid the “silent participation 1” package in October, of which only 1.5 billion euros had been called up, the remaining undrawn part was now also canceled. The company had also repaid a loan of one billion euros to the state-owned development bank KfW.

Under this condition, the ESF has agreed to sell its stake in Deutsche Lufthansa amounting to 14 percent of the share capital by October 2023 at the latest, according to the airline.

Lufthansa negotiated a government aid package worth nine billion euros with the German government and the European Commission. (1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollars)