- Reuters
Lufthansa boss vents frustration about Boeing problems
Aircraft delivery delays from Boeing are "extremely annoying" and cost Lufthansa lots of money, but the U.S. planemaker should be able to resolve its problems, the German airline's CEO said in a newspaper interview. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr was direct when asked by Switzerland's Neue Zuercher Zeitung how badly recent setbacks at Boeing and subsequent delivery hold-ups were affecting his firm. "This is extremely annoying and costs us a great deal of money," Spohr said in the interview published at the weekend.
- Reuters
Lufthansa, Air France-KLM to cut costs after tough first quarter
LONDON/GDANSK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Two of Europe's top airline groups, Lufthansa and Air France-KLM, announced cost cuts on Tuesday after labour disputes and high customer payouts linked to flight disruptions deepened first-quarter losses. The first quarter is often a loss-making one for airlines, with fewer bookings, but this year's was worse than expected for the two groups due to expensive strike action and disruptions due to capacity limits and cancellations. Air France-KLM said it would tighten spending for the rest of the year, including a freeze on hiring support staff.
- Reuters
Lufthansa seeks to persuade EU regulators over ITA stake buy
Lufthansa executives and lawyers will attend a day-long hearing in Brussels on Friday to try to convince EU antitrust regulators to clear the company's bid for a minority stake in Italian rival ITA Airways. Lufthansa last week submitted remedies to address the EU competition watchdog's concerns about its 325-million-euro ($346 million) bid for a 41% stake in state-owned ITA, the successor to Alitalia. So far, the remedies are little changed from an earlier package the Commission rejected as insufficient, although Lufthansa can add remedies following the hearing, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
