Lufthansa Scraps Payout Amid $12 Billion Jet-Order Plans

Deutsche Lufthansa AG plans to suspend its dividend for the first time since 2010 to preserve cash as the German airline rejuvenates the fleet and pushes ahead with its most ambitious cost-savings program to date.

Lufthansa will buy eight long-range and 100 short- to medium-range aircraft in a purchase valued at about 9 billion euros ($12 billion), the carrier said in a statement yesterday. Lufthansa also plans to close sites, including its headquarters in Cologne, and merge administrative functions as part of a savings program targeted at increasing operating profit to 2.3 billion euros by 2015. The stock fell the most in 5 1/2 weeks.