Lufthansa Group this week unveiled its financial and operating results for the first quarter of 2023. The company reported significant improvements compared to the same period last year and was optimistic ahead of the upcoming summer season.
Lufthansa is optimistic about the near future
«After a good first quarter in which we were able to significantly improve our result, we now expect a travel boom in the summer as well as a new record in our traffic revenue for the year as a whole», said Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa Group CEO. «On short- and medium-haul leisure-oriented routes, demand is already exceeding 2019 levels», he remarked.
On the other hand, the executive highlighted the improvements in the products that the group’s airlines offer to their customers. In that sense, he said the company is well positioned to further strengthen its position among the world’s largest airlines.
However, the bottom line showed a negative result between January and March. The company said this was mainly due to seasonality and the lower activity characteristic of the first months of the year in Europe.
It also pointed to costs related to the forecasting and scheduling of summer operations, investments in operational improvements and the effects of strikes in Germany as influencing the result.
See also: Lufthansa Group «has economically left the pandemic behind», says its CEO
Key financial and operating results of Lufthansa Group in the first quarter of 2023
- Revenues increased by 40% compared to the same period in 2022 and amounted to 7 billion euros.
- The bottom line showed a net loss of 467 million euros, down 20% from January to March of the previous year. Growth in demand and travel bookings for the summer season supported this result.
- The group’s airlines carried a total of 22 million passengers in the first three months of 2023. This represents a considerable increase over the 13 million passengers in the same period last year.
- Capacity continued to recover and reached 75% of the level of the first quarter of 2019, the last year before the start of the pandemic. Compared to the same period in 2022, capacity grew by 30%.
- According to Lufthansa Group, expected demand in the coming months should support a continued increase in capacity to levels close to those of 2019. The company forecasts a recovery of around 82% in the second quarter, and between 85% and 90% for the whole of 2023.
- The cargo segment again generated operating profit. However, it was below the record result of the first quarter of the previous year, especially due to the normalisation of air freight market rates.
