Lufthansa Group has recorded its “best first half-year result” in company history thanks to strong demand and lower costs.
The aviation giant saw operating profit rise by 88.6 per cent to €987 million for the first six months of 2017, compared to a profit of €528 million during the same period last year.
Lufthansa Group, which also owns Eurowings, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss, said that its revenue had increased by 12.7 per cent to €16.95 billion from January to June, with total passenger numbers rising 17.2 per cent to 59.99 million.
Ulrik Svensson, chief financial officer of Deutsche Lufthansa, said: “We have achieved the best first half-year result in our company’s history.
“In addition to strong demand and a robust pricing environment, this is attributable to the fact that we achieved a further structural reduction in costs.
“Our hard work in cutting our costs is reaping its rewards. But we must continue these endeavours: this is the most important way that our margins can be improved sustainably.”
Lufthansa said that it expected its Eurowings subsidiary to break even in 2017 - one year earlier than previously forecast.
The group added that it had also achieved “more advance bookings” for the third-quarter period and that it now expected its profit for the whole of this year to be above 2016’s level.