Lufthansa CEO expects European airline consolidation to continue following COVID-19 crisis

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said he expects the trend towards consolidation in the airline industry will continue in the long term, as prior to the onset of the coronavirus, it was "was one of the biggest issues in our industry" (The Wall Street Journal, 06-Sep-2021). Mr Spohr said "pretty much every European airline" received some forms of stabilisation aid from governments, but once this state aid is paid back the "pause button" on European airline consolidation.