Profit last year was €529m
The Lufthansa Group's financial results released today (October 29) show a net loss of €32m for the first nine months of the year.
Despite posting an operating profit of €226m between January and September 2009, Lufthansa was left in the red, blaming weaker demand due to the economic crisis for the overall loss.
The decline in the number of business travellers and the fall in yield was also a factor, said the airline.
Over the same period in 2008, Lufthansa made a net profit of €529m, while the operating profit was €954 million.
Lufthansa's ceo Wolfgang Mayrhuber said: "Whereas recent months have seen the stabilisation of demand in the passenger business, revenues remain at rock-bottom despite record load factor."
He added that the Group would continue to operate in a challenging environment with significant declines in revenue and that negative effects could be expected during the coming months from the Group's new airlines.
The third quarter financial statement is the first to include the results of Austrian Airlines and bmi, which were bought by the Lufthansa Group this year.
During the first nine months of 2009, the Lufthansa Group's operating expenses decreased by 5.8% to €17.8bn, mainly due to lower fuel costs.
The group's capital expenditure came to €1.8bn, of which €1.4bn was spent on fleet expansion and modernisation and another €65m on the acquisition of 45% of Brussels Airlines.
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