Lufthansa Group reported an operating profit of €1.1 billion for the third quarter, signalling sustained business recovery as travel demand is expected to remain high in the coming months.
The group, which also owns Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, saw revenues reach €10.1 billion (a 93 per cent increase on 2021) between July and September, with earnings from its passenger airlines segment “increasing significantly” to €709 million (up from -€193 million a year ago).
In a quarterly earnings call on Thursday (27 October), Lufthansa stated that all airlines generated an individual operating profit, despite the group suffering losses of around €70 million from strike action this summer.
Passenger numbers increased to more than 33 million for the quarter, up from 20 million the previous year, with average load factor reaching more than 86 per cent – marking a return to “the record years” before the pandemic.
The group reported load factors in business and first class were “even higher than in 2019” with revenues now at 70 per cent of pre-crisis levels.
Due to rising demand, low cost carrier Eurowings is reportedly planning to “significantly increase” capacity for business travellers and “expand capacity of its BIZclass product” on numerous routes.
While demand from premium leisure travellers continued to drive profits, the group said business travel bookings remained on an upward trajectory.
Commenting on the group’s “very strong” quarterly result, CEO Carsten Spohr said the group “has economically left the pandemic behind and is looking optimistically into the future”.
Despite rising inflation Spohr said “the desire to travel and thus the demand for air travel continues unabated. Now we are focusing on the future and launching the biggest product renewal in our history”. This includes investing in 200 new aircraft.
The group expects air travel demand to remain strong for the remainder of the year, with profits likely to continue into the fourth quarter despite the usual seasonal slowdown in business. Its airlines are also reportedly planning to offer around 80 per cent of 2019 capacity.
Along with positive results from its logistics and cargo segments and its Lufthansa Technik maintenance business, the group has raised its earnings forecast for the year. It now expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of more than €1 billion, and adjusted free cash flow of more than €2 billion in 2022.
The company had previously forecast EBIT of “at least half a billion euros” in 2022 in its half-year report published in August.