By Joanna Plucinska and Ilona Wissenbach
LONDON (Reuters) -Lufthansa reported quarterly operating earnings slightly above expectations on Thursday and said the outlook for the fourth quarter was strong with demand set to improve, though weak North Atlantic bookings were a drag.
The German airline group’s shares were up over 5% at 1028 GMT.
The results follow Lufthansa’s promise of an ambitious turnaround plan, designed to cut costs and centralise operations across its multi-hub operation. It has also struggled to finalise a deal with unions to avoid a potential strike.
EXPECTS NORTH AMERICAN RECOVERY FROM Q4 ONWARDS
European airlines have largely dodged the impact of a drop in travel from Europe to North America since U.S. President Donald Trump won the presidential election in late 2024.
Lufthansa had previously warned it could see some softness in demand, particularly in its transatlantic market, in the third quarter. In its results presentation, it said the 9.8% year-on-year decline in quarterly revenue per available seat kilometre was a “temporary setback”.
Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told journalists that the group expected a recovery in North American traffic in the fourth quarter and into 2026.
Analysts said the group offset soft demand with a strong Latin American market and premium bookings, but Bernstein’s Alex Irving stressed that cost control was still essential.
The group reported a third-quarter operating profit of 1.33 billion euros ($1.55 billion), a touch above the 1.32 billion euros projected by analysts polled by LSEG. That was down 1% from the same quarter last year.
Lufthansa also confirmed its 2025 forecast for operating profit, or earnings before interest, taxes and special items, to be significantly above last year’s 1.6 billion euros.
HAMPERED BY DELAYED PLANE DELIVERIES
The third quarter, which includes the northern hemisphere’s summer holiday season, is usually the strongest for European airlines.
“Even though we must continue to work intensively on the turnaround of our core business and the efficiency of our airlines, we can confirm our forecast of a significant improvement in earnings in 2025 today,” Spohr said in a statement.
Lufthansa has struggled to build profits in recent years amid rising costs and what analysts call its complex structure.
Delivery delays, particularly from planemaker Boeing, have not helped as it has been forced to continue operating older, less efficient equipment. Wednesday’s announcement of further delays to the Boeing 777X further hampers the group’s fleet renewal plans.
That has left its shares among the weakest in the European airline sector, lagging main competitors British Airways-owner IAG and Air France-KLM.
Still, the airline said it expected twice as many long-haul aircraft delivered in 2026 as this year, a continued reduction of its fleet as it retires older planes, and intercontinental demand to support growth.
(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Ludwig Burger. Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)
