In its difficult start to the spring, the Lufthansa Group has generated 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, particularly 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.

The bottom line is that the MDax group achieved a consolidated profit of 469 million euros in the second quarter (2023: 881 million euros), as it reported in Frankfurt. The company increased its quarterly revenue by seven percent to 10 billion euros. Flight capacity grew by 11 percent year-on-year, while the passenger companies were only able to increase their revenues by 4.5 percent.

The main loss-maker was the core company Lufthansa, which recorded a loss of 427 million after six months, a good half a billion less than in the same period last year, when it still had a profit of 149 million euros as of June 30. Management there has started a cost-cutting program. 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 the 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 full year, after previously setting a target of around 2.2 billion euros. In the second quarter, operating profit was only 686 million euros, compared to 1.1 billion euros in the same period last year.