Deutsche Lufthansa reported robust demand for air travel and noted that ticket sales for flights to and from North America during the second quarter had increased compared to the previous year. This followed an enhancement in adjusted earnings during the first quarter.
The German airline conglomerate mentioned they observe consistent demand for lengthy international trips since the count of travelers on their path to North America, alongside the mean income produced from this route, rose during the initial three months of the year.
The airline conglomerate, which comprises Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, and Eurowings besides Lufthansa, reported an uptick due to robust regional flight bookings. This resulted in a rise of 7.1% in passenger counts and a boost of 6.7% in average revenue.
The demand within the U.S. kept increasing, with the company reporting that they transported approximately 25% more passengers from the U.S. to Europe during March compared to the previous year.
Lufthansa affirmed its forecast for 2025, stating that it anticipated yet another robust peak travel period during the summer season.
This contrasts with U.S. counterparts like American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Southwest Airlines, which recently removed their financial forecasts due to declining domestic travel within the U.S. and uncertainties related to tariffs.
Even with the brighter perspective, Lufthansa stated that trade disagreements between the U.S. and Europe make it challenging to precisely predict the coming year. The company mentioned that its insight into the third quarter remains restricted.
A special team has been set up to track developments and react to potential declines in demand, such as by modifying capacity, according to Lufthansa.
Last year, the firm initiated a recovery strategy aimed at enhancing productivity and boosting profits specifically within its flagship airline, Lufthansa. The main carrier experienced its strongest beginning of a calendar year in ten years. Across the entire group, expenses related to compensating customers for delayed or canceled flights dropped by 52%, totaling €47 million ($53.5 million).
Despite this, the aggregate outcome of its passenger airlines was burdened by increased expenses.
Lufthansa’s adjusted earnings before interest and taxes—the company’s favored metric for measuring profit—resulted in a loss of 722 million euros, which represents a 15% enhancement compared to the 849 million euro deficit recorded in the previous year.
The revenue for the period increased by 10%, totaling 8.13 billion euros.
This contrasts with what financial experts anticipated as an adjusted loss of 718 million euros, derived from expected revenues of 8.04 billion euros, based on the market consensus supplied by the firm.
Even though the adjusted earnings saw an enhancement, the firm reported a larger net loss of 885 million euros for the initial quarter, up from a net loss of 734 million euros during the same period the previous year.
Send your correspondence to Pierre Bertrand.
pierre.bertrand@wsj.com
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