Lufthansa Group has again increased its forecast for the company’s 2022 profit after continuing to experience “strong demand” throughout the autumn.
The airline giant, which also owns Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, said that it now expected to make adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of around €1.5 billion during 2022.
This comes after Lufthansa previously said in October that it was on course to make EBIT of more than €1 billion in 2022 after a buoyant summer season. In August, the company was only predicting an annual profit of “at least half a billion euros”.
In its latest upgrade, the group said that its average yields for passenger flights remained “well above pre-crisis level”.
“Earnings performance in October and November exceeded expectations. The booking situation for the coming months indicates a continuation of the positive trend in the group’s passenger business,” said Lufthansa in a statement to investors.
Lufthansa Group is also now entirely back in private ownership after the German government sold its final stake in the company in September. The government had taken a 20 per cent shareholding in Lufthansa as part of its €9 billion rescue package during the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airline group is due to announce its financial results for 2022 on 3 March 2023.