The federal government is likely to lose hundreds of millions in state aid following the bankruptcy of the travel company FTI. As the “Handelsblatt” in Düsseldorf reported, citing internal government documents, the government expects losses of an estimated 510 million euros. FTI had received aid from the Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) during the Corona crisis and has not yet repaid most of it.
According to the report by Handelsblatt, Europe’s third-largest travel group received 603 million euros from the WSF. FTI paid back 93 million before it went bankrupt. The FTI bankruptcy thus accounts for almost half of the WSF’s total expected losses. According to the list, these amount to around 1.1 billion euros.
The WSF is suffering even more losses due to the bankruptcy of the Galeria department store chain: According to the report, the expected damage here is 524 million euros. The bankruptcies of the automotive suppliers A-Kaiser and Frimo, the machine manufacturer Global Retool and the fashion companies Görtz and Orsay are significantly less significant. They increased the estimated damage by 73.8 million euros.
The WSF dates back to the 2008 financial crisis. During the Corona pandemic, the federal government significantly expanded the financial instrument to help companies in crisis. To cushion the energy crisis following the Russian attack on Ukraine, the federal government provided the pot with a further 200 billion euros. Despite the losses, this has so far been a positive deal for the federal government: According to the “Handelsblatt”, the profits from the aid measures amount to 1.23 billion euros, slightly more than the losses mentioned.
FTI filed for insolvency proceedings in Munich on Monday. The insolvency and its consequences will initially affect customers who have booked services from FTI Touristik. This includes the FTI brand in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands as well as offers such as 5vorFlug or the rental vehicle brands DriveFTI and Cars and Camper. Anyone who has booked FTI services via a booking platform such as Check24 or Ab-In-den-Urlaub is also affected.