The bitter and acrimonious row between Lufthansa and Ryanair over Laudamotion and leasing contracts is over, after being settled out of court according to both airlines.
A war of words started when Ryanair accused Lufthansa of telling lies over a dispute with the amount of aircraft Lufthanas had leased to Laudamotion that Ryanair has effectively taken over. The German airline was seeking to end the lease of some planes to Laudamotion because, it said, the budget carrier had missed leasing payments. Ryanair said Lufthansa was telling lies and then suddenly legal action was on the cards. A London court had been scheduled to begin hearings at the start of November, however, in a statement issued on Tuesday, that's all over!
Laundamotion/Ryanair will now return the nine aircraft that are leased from Lufthansa, they are to be handed back during the first half of 2019. “On that basis the parties have settled the litigation between them, the matter will not therefore be heard by the High Court in London in November 2018.”
The Austrian Laudamotion actually wont suffer a lack of aircraft as it has new Airbus aircraft on order as well as flying 10 Boeing 737 aircraft from Ryanair, although the plan is to have a complete Airbus fleet to reduce costs.
