Rising passenger numbers triple Lufthansa's profit

Europe's leading airline group Lufthansa more than tripled its second quarter net profit year on year, driven by strong travel demand, and expects to post one of the best annual results in its history.

Lufthansa posted a net profit of 881 million euros, compared to 259 million in the second quarter of 2022, it said in a press release on Thursday, after a winter in the red, a period less conducive to travel. The group achieved a turnover up 17% to 9.38 billion euros, boosted by the increase in demand for passenger flights, which increased by 14% over one year, and by ticket prices, 25% more expensive than in the second quarter of 2019, Denis Weber, head of investor relations, told the press.

Lufthansa expects for the third quarter an operating result exceeding that of the year 2019, that of before the pandemic which had brought the group to its knees (1.3 billion euros at the time).

For the full year, operating profit is expected to reach 2.6 billion euros, up from 1.5 billion in 2022. This would be one of the three best results in Lufthansa's history, along with those of 2017 and 2018, Weber said. And this, while the number of passengers, up to 33.3 million in the second quarter, remains lower than before the pandemic, equivalent to 84% of the second quarter of 2019.

The capacity offered also remains below its pre-crisis level, at 83% of the level of the second quarter of 2019. underway," said Remco Steenbergen, the company's chief financial officer. The group has also reduced its debt to a level lower than before the pandemic.