Dudeness and foxcharlie,
following a long discussion with a friend and colleague in Germany I now understand the situation much better and would like to clarify that I am in agreement with both of you regarding your concerns about companies that commit “Sozialdumping” being given a leg up vs. LH who it appears are trying to be socially responsible and also have not announced mass redundancies as have many of their competitors (to my knowledge at least). I simply don’t think it’s helpful to use what I see as clumsy “Stammtisch” language to describe complex issues such as cabotage. I have seen too much damage being caused when valid concerns are being abused to drive political agendas that are not in our (European aviation professionals and taxpayers) interests. However, I also wonder why some member states seem to think they must comply 100 percent of the time with everything the EU says while others seem to be able to creatively adapt and interpret the law as they see fit. Perhaps the German government should have given LH the money and sorted out the business with the EU later as not to prolong the critical situation which LH finds itself in at the moment.