LONDON – In their recently released financial report, it has emerged that strike action from Lufthansa Group workers cost the company 70 million EUR.
However, this has not affected the Group too badly, as group revenue almost doubled compared to last year, with them reporting around 10.1bn EUR in such earnings.
Adjusted EBIT was recorded at 1.1bn Euros in 3Q22, which is up considerably from the 251m EUR recorded in 3Q21.
Net income increased also exponentially in 3Q22 to 809 million EUR from -72 million EUR in the previous year.
Commenting on the results was Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG:
“The Lufthansa Group achieved a very strong result in the third quarter with an operating profit of over one billion euros, thus demonstrating its regained profitability.”
“All business segments, passenger airlines as well as logistics and MRO, contributed to this success. This once again underlines the strength of our portfolio.”
“The Lufthansa Group has economically left the pandemic behind and is looking optimistically into the future. After all, the desire to travel and, thus, the demand for air travel continues unabated.”
“Now, we are focusing on the future and launching the biggest product renewal in our history. We are investing in 200 new aircraft and offering perspectives for our employees around the world.”
“It remains our ambition to further strengthen our position among the top 5 airline groups in the world.”
Load Factors Returned to Pre-Pandemic Numbers…
The number of passengers traveling on board passenger airlines increased significantly in the third quarter compared with the previous year.
Between July and September, more than 33 million passengers flew with the airlines of the Lufthansa Group (previous year: 20 million).
The development of yields was particularly positive. In the third quarter, yields were, on average, 23 percent higher than in 2019 and thus reached a new record level.
At just over 86 percent, the average seat load factor was back at the level of the record years before the Coronavirus pandemic.
Load factors in Business and First Class were even higher than in 2019. Especially remarkable was the continued high premium demand from leisure travelers.
Bookings among business travelers also continued to recover. Revenues in this segment are now back at around 70 percent of the pre-crisis level.
Due to the high demand and strong average yields, the Passenger Airlines segment returned to profitability with a positive Adjusted EBIT of 709 million euros (previous year: -193 million euros). All airlines in the segment generated an operating profit individually as well.
In the third quarter, the airlines’ result was burdened by costs for irregularities in air traffic amounting to 239 million euros.
Overall…
With the major profits that Lufthansa Group is reporting, this will no doubt continue to be a slap in the face to workers who went on strike over the Summer.
Despite the damage from strikes being 70 million EUR, the damage has been recouped almost instantly throughout the year as revenues nearly doubled.
Looking ahead, it’s going to be interesting to see whether we could see any more strike action down the line or whether workers are happy with where they are.
