Lufthansa in talks with Airbus and Boeing on order deferrals

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/>