Lufthansa reports high losses

Author: Mario Schmidtgen
Date: 17.04.2019

Reasons are high fuel costs and overcapacities

Deutsche Lufthansa is flying into the red: The airline recorded losses in the first three months of the current business year. Adjusted operating earnings (EBIT) slipped to minus 336 million euros in the first quarter. A plus of 52 million euros was generated in the same period last year.

One reason for the heavy losses are the high fuel costs, which have recently cost Lufthansa 202 million euros more. In addition, overcapacities have triggered high price pressure in Europe. This was announced by the management. In the first quarter of 2018, the figures for the same period last year were so strong because the market had free capacities following Air Berlin’s exit from the market.

The airline’s revenue, on the other hand, rose by three percent to 7.9 billion euros in the first quarter. Despite the high losses, the forecast for the year as a whole remains positive. “We see a good booking situation for the coming quarter,” said Lufthansa CFO Ulrik Svensson. “At the same time, we have significantly reduced our growth. Since growth in European air traffic will also be reduced overall, we expect unit revenues to increase again.”