Lufthansa gears up for showdown with investor over 9-billion-euro bailout

Lufthansa will seek to avoid a grounding and insolvency, Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said on Sunday, before a showdown between the airline's biggest shareholder and the German government over the terms of a 9-billion-euro bailout.

Lufthansa has been hard hit by what is expected to be a protracted travel slump because of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing it to seek a bailout.

Billionaire shareholder Heinz Hermann Thiele will meet the economics minister on Monday to discuss his objections to the state-backed bailout, a source close to the matter told Reuters.

As an alternative to the government taking a direct stake in