Germany's top airline, Lufthansa, said today that its third quarter net profit rose to €184m from €148m a year earlier but warned of a loss for the full year in its main passenger business.
Lufthansa said also there would be a 'negative impact' on its annual results from the recent acquisitions of Austrian Airlines and British Midland, which need to be restructured.
The German airline said yesterday that its nine-month operating profit had plunged by 76.3% to €226m and warned that its full-year target of a positive operating result 'remains subject to very considerable risks'. Austrian Airlines and British Midland contributed €28m to those results, Lufthansa said.
But the airline warned that 'whereas recent months have seen the stabilisation of demand in the passenger business, revenues remain at rock-bottom despite record load factors.'
Airlines have seen a slump in the number of passengers willing to pay extra for business and first-class seats. In July, Lufthansa announced additional cost cuts, in part by shedding office staff, to save $1 billion a year from 2011.
'We have learned to successfully fly through turbulence and we now have the opportunity to prove this again,' Lufthansa chairman Wolfgang Mayrhuber said.
The airline has begun to adjust new aircraft orders in response to the sharp drop in demand and had hedged around 59% of its anticipated fuel costs for next year.
The carrier expects fuel to cost a total of €3.7 billion this year, up from a previous forecast of €3.4 billion and around €4.5 billion in 2010, owing to the two new airline subsidiaries.
