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Lufthansa is locked in crunch talks with the German government on the terms of a rescue deal, as it fights to avoid bankruptcy while keeping state influence at bay. Europe's leading global airline group held its first virtual annual general meeting on Tuesday, unveiling a E1.2b ($1.3b) Q1 loss and painting a bleak picture of the outlook for global aviation. Lufthansa declined to answer questions from shareholders regarding details of its bailout discussions. It said last week that the Swiss government had agreed to guarantee 85% of a $1.5b loan package for its Swiss carriers. The group also owns airlines in Germany, Austria and Belgium. Lufthansa is reportedly negotiating a E10b bailout with Germany that would give the government 25.1% of the company and a seat on its supervisory board. The company said in a letter sent to staff on May 3 and said that it believes talks "can be brought to a quick conclusion." "The support of the German government would be a decisive step for our future viability," the executive board wrote in the letter. "Competitiveness and investment capability continue to be important prerequisites for this." Analysts are worried that government interference could hamper Lufthansa's ability to quickly execute a planned restructuring program, which would trim its fleet by 13% and could result in as many as 10,000 job cuts. CEO Carsten Spohr stressed Tuesday that Lufthansa wants to preserve its "entrepreneurial freedom of decision and action."<br/>

Lufthansa AG CEO Carsten Spohr said the airline is in “intense” talks with Airbus SE and Boeing Co. about postponing plane deliveries as he set out plans for surviving the coronavirus storm. Facing shareholders at the German company’s AGM, executives said they couldn’t answer questions about negotiations for a government bailout, but that it’s in noone’s best interests to see a collapse. “The future of Lufthansa is being decided in these days,” Spohr told the meeting. “It is about avoiding an insolvency with the help of the governments of our four home markets.” Spohr is seeking to slash spending and rein in Lufthansa’s operations to survive a travel collapse that’s punctured a decades-long aviation boom. At the same time, he’s pursuing state support worth as much as E12b from Germany and the three other countries where the group has units. The crucial German bailout, which could total E10b, has been held up as Lufthansa resists ceding influence to the state, people with knowledge of the matter have said. <br/>

Lufthansa shareholders Tuesday agreed to not distribute E298m in retained profits as a dividend for 2019, as the airline enters the final stretch of negotiations for a E10b bailout. Lufthansa needs to be rescued after coronavirus travel bans forced the German group to ground 700 of its aircraft, leading to a 99% drop in passenger numbers and causing the group to lose about E1m in liquidity reserves per hour. Some 10,000 shareholders followed the meeting online, representing 33.19% of the share capital, Lufthansa said. <br/>

The government is ready to back a rescue package for Thai Airways International, but it will entail a full restructuring and there will be no second chances, the PM said. Seeking union support for the plan, drafted amid a global travel slump caused by the coronavirus outbreak, Prayut Chan-o-cha said adjusting the airline's organisational structure and headcount would be challenging. "This is an enterprise that we have to rehabilitate and this is the last chance we have to manage the issue so it does not get worse," he said. The package, details of which have not been confirmed, has not yet been submitted to cabinet, he said. The majority state-owned airline is seeking a loan of 58.1b baht guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance to stop it from running out of money, according to a draft of the plan. In exchange, the carrier would agree to cut its fleet size and lay off staff, the documents showed. The Thai Airways Union said it would cooperate with a "clear plan" that succeeded in rehabilitating the carrier. But it was concerned about the risk of interference from outside interests.<br/>

Scandinavian carrier SAS has signed an agreement for a SKr3.3b ($335m) three-year revolving credit facility which is 90% guaranteed by the Swedish and Danish governments. The debt package, which has already been approved by the EC, will “support the airline’s liquidity and prepare for the recovery of its activities”, says SAS. The airline is also in talks with Norway’s government for an additional NKr1.7b ($165m) of state-guaranteed funding. In March, Sweden’s national legislature approved a proposal to issue credit guarantees of up to SKr5b to airlines, of which SKr1.5b was to be allocated to SAS. Similar measures were approved by Denmark. Both governments are shareholders in the airline. The EC approved the plan in mid-April under temporarily relaxed state-aid rules. “The agreement strengthens our financial position in a difficult period when most of our fleet is grounded,” said SAS CFO Torbjorn Wist. “Going forward, we will continue our focused work on reducing costs and seeking additional support from the Scandinavian governments to ensure that SAS continues to be the leading provider of critical airline infrastructure in Scandinavia.”<br/>

Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the Covid-19-induced lockdown, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Tuesday. The minister said those availing of the facility would be charged. He said private airlines of Indian may join the repatriation effort after May 13. A passenger on a London-Delhi flight will be charged Rs 50,000 and on a Dhaka-Delhi flight Rs 12,000, the minister said. These 64 flights would be conducted by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express to repatriate Indians from 12 countries, namely, UAE, the UK, the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. On arrival, all passengers will be screened and put under quarantine for a period of 14 days as a Covid-19 precautionary measure, Puri said.<br/>