Europe's biggest airline, Lufthansa, has set modest 2010 targets after reporting a 2009 net loss of €112m due to a slump in traffic.
Lufthansa said it expected a 'slight recovery of revenues' in the current year. This came after 2009 sales fell 10.3% to €22.3 billion.
Lufthansa said recent acquisitions Austrian Airlines and BMI were not expected to contribute to overall profit right away.
Its passenger division suffered an operating loss of €8m in 2009 despite the addition of the new subsidiaries.
Lufthansa's operating profit last year was €130m, just a tenth of the €1.3 billion posted in 2008. In the last three months of 2009, Lufthansa suffered an operating loss of €96m following two profitable quarters.
Passenger traffic was hit last month by a brief pilots' strike, and talks with their union have still not reached a pay agreement.
Meanwhile, airline industry group IATA has halved its 2010 loss forecast for airlines to $2.8 billion, saying a recovery led by Asia and Latin America may prove to be stronger than expected.
