Lufthansa reported a leap in its operating profits for the first six months of 2005 to 253m compared with just 33m for the same period last year.
The airline said on the back of this result that it now expected an operating profit for the year of 400m.
Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Lufthansa's chairman and ceo, described it as a “fine feat in such a tough setting.”
He added: “All of our business segments improved their result. We are now more flexible, more productive and react faster – and we have strengthened our sound financial base.”
But while its operating profit dramatically improved, the carrier also reported that its net group profit was only 0.2m compared with 39m for the first six months of 2004.
This profit for 2004 had been boosted by the sale of part of the airline's stake in Amadeus, the travel distribution and IT company, for 292m.
For January to June 2005, Lufthansa said that its group revenue had risen by 2.4% to 8.5bn and that traffic revenue increased by 5.2% to 6.5bn.
During the period, fuel costs had risen by 327m (41.8%) to 1.1bn, a record for the half way stage of the year. Without hedging, the group would be facing an extra 111m bill for fuel.
Mr Mayrhuber said the despite the good results, the airline faced “major challenges.” He added: “The continuing high oil price, excess capacity and pressure on average yields, an inadequate infrastructure and an uneven playing field require great vigilance and stringent cost control.”
He said the airline's action plan to implement 780m savings in 2005 was still on target with 606m savings already in place.