Air traffic Difficult start for Lufthansa in spring
In the second quarter, the Lufthansa Group lost its profit course. The company is burdened by strikes and is unable to push through higher ticket prices due to growing competition.
31.07.2024, 07:26
SDA
After a difficult start to the spring, the Lufthansa Group made significantly less profit than a year earlier. The company cited strike costs of around 100 million euros and falling average ticket prices as reasons for the weak second quarter. Prices are under pressure, especially in the direction of Asia, due to the growing capacities of Chinese airlines. Lufthansa has already thinned out its winter flight schedule from the end of October due to the lower revenues.
On balance, the MDax group generated a consolidated profit of 469 million euros in the second quarter (2023: 881 million euros), as reported in Frankfurt. The company increased its quarterly turnover by seven percent to 10 billion euros. The number of flights grew by 11 percent year-on-year, while passenger airline revenue only increased by 4.5 percent.
Core company posts a loss
The main loss-maker was the core company Lufthansa, which posted a loss of 427 million euros after six months, a good half a billion less than in the same period last year, when a profit of 149 million euros was reported as of June 30. The management has launched a cost-cutting program there. In contrast, business at the maintenance subsidiary Lufthansa Technik was at a record level. The company also expects profits at or above the previous year's level for other airlines such as Swiss, Austrian, Brussels and Eurowings.
As previously reported, the Group is now only expecting an operating profit of between 1.4 and 1.8 billion euros (adjusted EBIT) for the year as a whole, having previously stated a target of around 2.2 billion euros. In the second quarter, operating profit amounted to only 686 million euros after 1.1 billion euros in the same period of the previous year.
