Lufthansa’s E9b bailout from Berlin is set to be approved by shareholders, after its largest investor revealed he would vote for the rescue package at an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, despite his misgivings. Billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele, who has been steadily building his stake in the group since the middle of March and now owns more than 15.5% of Lufthansa, had previously signalled that he would seek to renegotiate the deal with the German government. The former tank commander told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung last week he was unhappy with the proposal by Angela Merkel’s administration. Thiele argued the government was buying Lufthansa’s stock at an unreasonable discount, paying a nominal E2.56 per share — less than a third of the current market price. The 79-year-old, along with other Lufthansa shareholders, was also concerned about the size of the German government’s stake, and the influence it would give lawmakers, arguing the move would weaken the carrier’s competitiveness against rivals including Air France-KLM, which was rescued without any equity participation. In an interview with the paper published late Wednesday evening, Thiele confirmed he would vote for the bailout despite his concerns.<br/>
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Lufthansa Thursday said it had struck a cost saving deal with unions representing German cabin crew that would reap more than E500m in savings. Lufthansa said the cost saving measures agreed with UFO included steps to stop pay rises, cut working hours, and a cap on pension contributions. In addition unions and the airline have reached agreement over the terms of temporary severance packages, Lufthansa said on Thursday.<br/>
Lufthansa will resume regular scheduled flights between Frankfurt and Shanghai from Wednesday, according to Lufthansa China. These are the first scheduled Lufthansa flights to the Chinese mainland since the end of January. Lufthansa is among the first foreign airlines to resume regular scheduled passenger flights to the Chinese mainland, said Lufthansa China. From Wednesday, the airline will start providing round-trip passenger flights between the cities once a week. Lufthansa Cargo Airlines under the Lufthansa Group maintained cargo services between Europe and China, ferrying medical and other supplies.<br/>
South Africa’s public enterprises ministry Wednesday urged creditors to back a restructuring plan for SAA, saying it was the only way to rescue the loss-making airline. Creditors are due to vote on the plan on Thursday, but one of the creditors is in court on Wednesday trying to prevent the vote from happening. State-owned SAA’s administrators published the proposal last week after repeated delays and months of wrangling. The government has applied pressure on the administrators to salvage SAA even though it has not made a profit since 2011 and has relied on bailouts. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) said: “DPE believes the approval of the business rescue plan would help creditors and employees to be co-creators of a new airline.”<br/>