Lufthansa secures German government bailout as airline confirms flights to Spain holiday islands Mallorca and Ibiza and Costa del Sol capital Malaga will resume mid-June

LUFTHANSA has secured a €9 billion rescue package from the German government just as it confirmed plans to resume flights to Spain’s holiday islands Mallorca and Ibiza and to Costa del Sol capital Malaga mid-June.
The deal, which has to be approved by the airline’s shareholders and by the European Commission, would give the German government a 20 per cent state in the company and a veto in the event of a hostile takeover bid.
Lufthansa had been operationally healthy and profitable before the coronavirus crisis and travel restrictions left around 95 per cent of its fleet grounded and forced the closure of its budget airline Germanwings last month.
Estimates meanwhile put the airline’s current losses at a jaw-dropping €1 million an hour.
“The federal government’s stabilisation package takes account of the needs of company as well as those of the taxpayers and the employees of the Lufthansa Group, who depend on the preservation of a strong company,” the German Finance and Economy ministries said in a joint statement on Monday
The markets gave a positive response to news of the agreement, with shares in Lufthansa going up 5.9 per cent. It is also good news for Spain’s tourism sector.
On Sunday a spokesman for the German carrier said it would be re-launching services to the two Balearic Islands and to Malaga in the middle of next month, as well as to other popular European holiday destinations like Greek islands Crete and Rhodes and Faro on Portugal’s Algarve.
The company is expected to announce further destinations in the coming days.