Lufthansa Says Full-Year Uncertainties ‘Remain High’ Despite Strong Second Quarter

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY - MARCH 15: CEO Carsten Spohr gestures during the annual results press conference of Lufthansa AG at Lufthansa Aviation Center on March 15, 2018 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)

Lufthansa Group has said uncertainties over its full-year performance, for 2026, “remain high” despite it posting a strong second quarter showing.

The German aviation group managed to post an operating profit of €383m for the three months to the end of June; but this was heavily down on the same period last year due to the group incurring €750m in additional fuel costs.

Revenue for the period grew by 8%, year-on-year, to €11.1bn as passenger demand continued to grow.

Lufthansa Group chairman and CEO, Carsten Spohr, said: “Despite our further improvement in load factor and a significant increase in yield, we were unable to fully offset the considerable rise in fuel costs. The continued strong global demand for air travel—primarily in the premium classes—had a particularly positive impact.”

Lufthansa Group Chief Financial Officer, Till Streichert, said: “Our balance sheet remains consistently strong at 10.7 billion euros in liquidity. Even though uncertainties for the second half of the year remain high, we are confident that the consistent execution of our strategy, cost discipline, network optimizations and persistently high demand will offset a significant portion of the cost increases.”