German flag carrier Lufthansa LHAG.DE has said that it had to reduce the buy-on-board meal offer for some short- and medium-haul routes departing from Frankfurt as its catering contractor Gate Gourmet struggles with staff shortages.
Details
"This means our (catering) offer is currently not available in economy class on these Lufthansa flights to and from Frankfurt. The offer in business class and on long-haul flights is not affected," a Lufthansa spokesperson said in a statement.
A spokesperson at Gate Gourmet's owner GateGroup said the issues are limited to a small number of flights departing from the Frankfurt airport, which is primarily a Lufthansa hub, and the main reason is the shortage of drivers in Germany.
To address the issue, the caterer has introduced measures such as a €250 bonus for employees who did not take more than one sick day in April.
GateGroup serves more than 300 customers in over 60 countries but has not got any other complaints, the spokesperson said, adding the caterer kept its on-time performance in Frankfurt at 99% over the busy Easter period.
Both companies said they were in close contact and working to improve the situation.
Lufthansa Takes Out Loan Facility of €2bn
The above news followed news that Germany's flag carrier Lufthansa LHAG.DE has said that it had signed a revolving credit facility of €2.0 billion with a syndicate of international relationship banks to boost its liquidity.
The unsecured loan facility replaces Lufthansa's existing undrawn credit lines of approximately €0.7 billion and will be available for three years with two one-year extension options, the airline said in a statement.
"The signing of our first syndicated revolving credit facility strengthens our liquidity reserve and increases the efficiency of our balance sheet in securing our liquidity target of 6-8 billion euros," finance chief Remco Steenbergen said.
HSBC Continental Europe, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and UniCredit Bank acted as coordinating bookrunners and mandated lead arrangers, Lufthansa said.
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