Lufthansa Group has cut its full-year profit expectations for a second time after disclosing adjusted EBIT down more than one-third at €686 million ($745 million) for the three months ended June 2024.
In disclosing preliminary figures for the second quarter ahead of publishing full results at the end of the month, Lufthansa cites a market-related decline in yields in all traffic regions, but especially in Asia.
Lufthansa Group began the year hopeful of roughly matching the €2.68 billion adjusted EBIT it made in 2023, but scaled these expectations back to a profit of about €2.2 billion after strike disruption hit its German operations in particular, coupled with the impact of aircraft delivery delays.
Second-quarter profits at Lufthansa Airlines are around €300 million down on the €515 million profit the German unit made in the same period last year. The combination of two tough quarters means the German operation lost €427 million over the first half.
”Lufthansa Airlines is particularly affected by the challenges posed by the negative market trend and by inefficiencies in the flight operations of Lufthansa and Cityline, also due to delayed aircraft delivery,” the group says. ”It is becoming increasingly challenging for Lufthansa Airlines to break even for the full year.
”To counteract this, a comprehensive turnaround program is being launched.”
By contrast, it says earnings for the second half of the year at its passenger carriers – Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines – as well Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Cargo are expected to be ”broadly at the previous year’s level, in some cases higher”.
Against this backdrop it has now cut the group’s full-year adjusted EBIT outlook to a range of between €1.4 billion and €1.8 billion. ”This outlook is largely dependent on the earnings development at Lufthansa Airlines and the traditionally important fourth quarter at Lufthansa Cargo,” it says.
