Lufthansa Group has announced its results for the first nine months of 2017 and on the face of it they make for pretty reading for shareholders despite a drop in profits.
The share price has virtually doubled this year as a consequence of shrewd management and growing demand (despite the imposition two years ago of its now infamous DCC for any GDS bookings).
Of course factors such as the collapse of Air Berlin and Alitalia mean that all the growth in demand isn't directly a consequence of LH's management decisions. The effect, however, has been more demand which has seen larger aircraft on many short-haul routes — more capacity without a directly proportional increase in costs.
All the demand figures are up — traffic revenue is up 14.4%, passengers increased 17.5% and the traditional measure of airline demand — revenue seat kilometres — by 14.6%. The future is looking rosy for the group.
But how about for buyers — the decrease in competition and increase in demand on Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss can only mean upwards pressure on fares. Greater demand and the need to expand capacity mean more crowded flights for travellers.
There is also the issue of less choice in the intra-European flight market. For better or worse, there is not as wide a range of suppliers as there was a year ago.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said the result "gives us the investment and growth capabilities we need to play an active part in the consolidation of the European airline market".
It is this consolidation all across the globe that buyers should watch rather than the level of profit. The worldwide trend is doubtless for fewer and fewer mega carriers supported by regional specialists, usually from the LCC stable.
This will provide for travellers' needs but will it do so at a price that business finds acceptable?