The suspense about the fate of Lufthansa is now over. Today, the shareholders of Deutsche Lufthansa AG voted in favour of accepting the capital measures and the participation of the Economic Stabilisation Fund (WSF) of the Federal Republic of Germany in Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The corresponding proposal received the necessary majority at today’s Extraordinary General Meeting of the company.

Lufthansa will get €5.7 billion in exchange of 20% stake to the German Government.

The package provides for stabilization measures and loans of up to 9 billion euros. The WSF will make silent capital contributions of up to 5.7 billion euros to the assets of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. It will also establish a 20% stake in the share capital of Deutsche Lufthansa AG by way of a capital increase. This capital increase was approved at today’s Extraordinary General Meeting.

The shareholders also voted in favour of granting two conversion rights for parts of the silent capital contributions. These conversion rights are intended, on the one hand, to safeguard the Federal Government in case of a takeover of Lufthansa and, on the other hand, to secure the interest payments for the silent capital contribution. Both conversion rights can be transformed into a further 5% of the company’s share capital should these conditions be met. The package will be supplemented by a loan of up to 3 billion euros with the participation of KfW and private banks.

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG said

The decision of our shareholders provides Lufthansa with a perspective for a successful future. On behalf of our 138,000 employees, I would like to thank the German federal government and the governments of our other home countries for their willingness to stabilize us. We at Lufthansa are aware of our responsibility to pay back the up to 9 billion euros to the taxpayers as quickly as possible.

Lufthansa will return to serving a majority of their schedule by September after an unsettling few weeks

As a result of the resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting, Lufthansa Group’s liquidity is secured on a sustained basis. The companies of Lufthansa Group are working at full speed to get their operations up and running again. The airlines’ flight schedules will, therefore, be consistently expanded in the coming weeks. The flight schedule for the next few weeks will be published at the beginning of next week. The plan is to include 90% of all planned short-haul destinations and 70% of all long-haul destinations in the flight schedule initially again by September.

Around 30,000 shareholders attended the Extraordinary General Meeting. A total of 39.0% of the share capital was represented. Of these, 98% of the capital present voted to accept the company’s proposed resolution. This means that far more than the necessary two-thirds majority voted in favour of adoption. The European Commission had already approved the stabilization package before the start of the Extraordinary General Meeting, on the condition that it gives up some slots for the benefit of the airline’s competitors.

This decision came after a long period of uncertainty concerning the airline’s ability to secure shareholder approval for the rescue package. The Lufthansa Group employs almost 140,000 people, and its airlines have a combined fleet of over 750 aircraft. Lufthansa does not expect demand to return for a few years in the future and has grounded most of their aircraft. Not just that, subsidiaries of the group, Germanwings and SunExpress have been permanently shut down.

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