Lufthansa Group has posted an operating profit of €393 million for the second quarter, compared to a loss of €827 million for the same period in 2021.
The group said that results at its Swiss subsidiary “deserve special mention”, with the carrier turning a €383 million loss in the first half of 2021, into a profit of €45 million for the same period this year.
A total of 42 million passengers travelled on Lufthansa Group carriers between January and June this year – four times the figure in 2021 – with 29 million of these travelling in the second quarter.
The group also said that its premium classes recorded load factors of 80 per cent in the second quarter, above 2019 levels of 76 per cent and “driven by continued high premium demand among private travellers and rising booking numbers among business travellers”.
Member carrier Lufthansa has been impacted by ground staff strikes and enforced cancellations for the summer period, but is set to hire around 5,000 new employees in the second half of 2022, and expects to offer around 80 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity in the third quarter.
Commenting on the news Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said:
“The Lufthansa Group is back in the black. This is a strong result after a half-year that was challenging for our guests but also for our employees. Worldwide, the airline industry reached its operational limits. Nevertheless, we are optimistic about the future.
“Together, we have steered our company through the pandemic and thus through the most severe financial crisis in our history. Now we must continue to stabilize our flight operations. To this end, we have taken numerous measures and successfully implemented them.
“In addition, we are doing everything in our power to expand the premium positioning of our airlines again and thus to fully meet the demands of our customers and also our own standards. We want to and will continue to strengthen our position as the number 1 in Europe and thus maintain our place in the global top league of our industry.
“In addition to the achieved return to profitability, top products for our customers and prospects for our employees are now once again our top priority.”
