The Lufthansa Group's first-quarter sales revenue declined 60 per cent year over year to €2.6 billion, although the group projects a significant increase in demand in the coming months.
During the first quarter, which CEO Carsten Spohr said "was still completely dominated by the pandemic," the group's capacity was 21 per cent of what it was in the first quarter of 2019. Its total number of passengers during the quarter was 3 million—10 per cent of what it carried in the first quarter of 2019. That should change in the coming months, particularly in light of the European Union's recent announcement that it would open to vaccinated US travellers, he said.
"We know that bookings shoot up wherever restrictions are loosened and travel becomes possible again," according to Spohr. "Given the foreseeable major advances in vaccination rates, we expect demand to rise sharply from the summer onwards."
The group projects capacity in the second quarter will increase to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, focusing largely on expected leisure demand, though that is "in the short term in order to react flexibly to market changes," according to the group. For the full year, the group's capacity should be about 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
The group reported a net loss of €1 billion for the quarter, compared with a €2.1 billion loss in the first quarter of 2020. Operating expenses were down 51 per cent year over year, and the number of employees was down 19 per cent year over year to 111,262.
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