German ministries welcome Lufthansa’s early bailout aid repayment By

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany’s finance and economy ministries on Friday welcomed the early repayment by flag carrier Lufthansa of bailout aid that it received during the coronavirus crisis.

“It shows that it was important and right for the state to help the company through difficult times and thereby secure thousands of jobs,” said Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who is on course to become Germany’s next chancellor, in a statement.

Lufthansa Group was saved from bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic by Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium 9 billion euros ($10.30 billion) in financial support approved by the European Commission in June 2020.

On Friday the German airline said that it had repaid an 1 billion euros it had received from the Economic Stabilisation Fund (ESF), meaning it had repaid or cancelled all the remaining supports.

The German airline only had to use about 3.8 billion euros of the support.

It was able to repay a loan from the KfW state bank of about 1 billion euros last February and in October it paid off a first round of silent ESF participation of about 1.5 billion euros.

Rising demand for travel, downsizing and the return of the market’s confidence in the airline helped make it possible to pay the loans back faster than expected, Lufthansa said.

“On behalf of all Lufthansa employees, I would like to thank the German government and the German taxpayers,” said Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr.

The ministries said that the stabilisation fund’s remaining stake of about 14% would be sold by October 2023 at the latest.

($1 = 0.8736 euros)

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