Deutsche Lufthansa AG yesterday said its freight operations propelled the German airline group to its first net profit since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lufthansa recorded a net profit of 259 million euros (US$263.6 million) from April to June — its first positive quarter since the end of 2019.
Lufthansa was “back in the black,” CEO Carsten Spohr said in a statement, describing the pandemic as “the most severe financial crisis in our history.”
The group — which includes Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines — made huge net losses of 6.7 billion euros in 2020 and 2.2 billion euros last year, as the pandemic shut down large parts of the airline industry.
Lufthansa was saved from bankruptcy by a government bailout in June 2020.
The improved figures were lifted by a “record” result for Lufthansa Cargo, which has benefited from high demand and “ongoing disruptions in ocean freight.”
The freight division booked an operating — or underlying — profit of 482 million euros in the second quarter, a 48 percent improvement on last year.
A boom in demand for travel saw the result for Lufthansa’s passenger airlines “improved significantly,” although they remained in the red, with the exception of Swiss.
Amid recent chaos at airports, Lufthansa said it would start recruiting again, bringing 5,000 new employees on board.
A shortage of workers has left airports struggling to process high numbers of passengers, after they pared back their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lufthansa has canceled about 7,000 flights for the busy summer season due to a shortage of staff and strikes by its ground crew union.
The airline’s pilots’ union has voted in favor of walkouts, but has not yet decided whether to hold them as pay talks continue.
Despite the disruption and the clouded outlook for the economy, Lufthansa said it “expects demand for tickets to remain high for the remaining months of the year.”
For the whole of this year Lufthansa planned to offer 75 percent of its pre-crisis capacity on passenger airlines.
The group also put a number on an expected operating profit for the year, saying it anticipated a result “above 500 million euros.”
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