A PYMNTS Company

Vestager Denies Making Lufthansa Bailout More Difficult

By  |  May 31, 2020

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager denied that she was putting hurdles in the way of Lufthansa’s US$10 billion government rescue, saying companies getting big capital injections from the state have to offset their competitive advantage.

    Get the Full Story

    Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required.

    yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today.

    By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

    According to Reuters, Vestager wants Lufthansa to permanently give up some take-off and landing slots at Frankfurt and Munich airports, where it commands a two-thirds market share, in return for giving the green light to the German government taking a 20% stake in the airline. 

    Lufthansa’s board, however, has rejected her demands. Berlin plans to inject €6 billion euros (US$6.7 billion) of new capital, most of it non-voting, into the airline, combined with €3 billion in state-backed loans.

    “No, we are not creating extra hurdles, what we are doing is to make sure when a company, and that can be any company with market power, with a recapitalisation bigger than 250 million, that disturbance of competition is being remedied,” she told a news conference.

    Vestager said extra demands would be imposed on companies getting a hefty capital injection from the state compared to those getting state loans.

    Full Content: Reuters

    Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.