Lufthansa accuses EU of damaging its business model

Lufthansa has accused the European Commission of causing permanent damage to its business model by forcing it to surrender slots at its Frankfurt and Munich hubs in return for approval of a E9b bailout by the German government. Last month, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition chief, warned there was a “high risk” of market distortion if Lufthansa’s rescue package did not include remedies such as the relinquishing of take-off and landing slots. After prolonged negotiations, the airline’s supervisory board agreed to give up 24 slots in Germany to competitors, and the bailout deal was subsequently voted through by shareholders. But in a briefing published Tuesday, Lufthansa said it was “incomprehensible that the EU Commission should intervene in this sensitive production structure during the worst crisis in civil aviation”. Using Frankfurt and Munich as international transfer hubs is crucial to the airline’s competitiveness, the briefing said, because no single German airport has the number of potential customers living nearby that Heathrow does in London and Charles de Gaulle in Paris. Without carrying passengers from connecting flights, long-haul flights from Germany “can no longer be operated economically”, said Lufthansa, adding: “In future, [the surrender of slots] will directly or indirectly strengthen long-haul providers outside Europe.”<br/>