Lufthansa has no plans to dispose of Brussels Airlines
The German aviation group Lufthansa says that it has no plans to dispose of its Belgian subsidiary Brussels Airlines. The news appears in a letter from to the Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (Francophone liberal) from Lufthasa’s CEO Carsten Spohr.
Brussels Airlines is in need of urgent support from the Federal Government. The airline only has enough cash to survive until around the end of next month. Brussels Airlines has already asked the Federal Government for help. A figure of 290 million euro in state support is said to have been requested by the airline.
Mr Spohr's letter is intended to make a number of things clear to Belgium’s federal authorities. "It is important that we remain profitable and that we can maintain our competitive position as a group”, Lufthansa’s CEO writes.
The Germans openly stressing that they want to keep the Lufthansa Group together is important as it means that they don’t intend to get rid of Brussels Airlines. In recent years Lufthansa’s strategy with regard to Brussels airlines wasn’t always clear.
Mr Spohr’s letter also stresses that any Belgian public money given to support Brussels Airlines would only be used for that purpose and would not go to help prop up any other entities within the Lufthansa Group.