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Lufthansa CEO Says Cheap Flights Are ‘Irresponsible’

Lufthansa CEO Says Cheap Flights Are ‘Irresponsible’

Ultra low-cost tickets priced at less than 10 euros ($11.25) each are harming the aviation industry’s reputation, Deutsche Lufthansa AG Chief Executive Officer Carsten Spohr said in an interview with Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung.

“Tickets for 9.99 euros are ecologically and economically irresponsible,” Spohr, 53, was quoted as saying.

He also said Europe’s largest airline will seek financing on capital markets to repay the government loans it received to make it through the coronavirus pandemic by 2023.

“Lufthansa won’t be debt-free but we want to get market loans to repay taxpayers’ money in Switzerland, in Germany and Austria,” Spohr said. “We would rather be indebted to the capital market than to the taxpayer.”

Lufthansa avoided the looming risk of insolvency after shareholders approved a 9 billion-euro bailout from the German government, securing its survival after weeks of drama over the rescue package.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.