Lufthansa Group has downgraded its 2015 operating profit outlook for the second time this year.
The company downgraded its earnings outlook, in June, from €2.65 billion to €2 billion for 2015. This will be the year when the group’s efficiency programme 'Score' is scheduled to be completed, a programme which originally aimed to generate a 2015 operating profit of at least €2.3 billion.
But for 2015, the airline group says only that it is expecting to generate earnings “significantly” higher than the €1 billion ($1.26 billion) operating profit it is targeting for 2014.
Lufthansa Group’s third-quarter operating profit rose 25% to €735 million, while revenue increased 2% to €8.46 billion compared with the same period in 2013.
Earnings at Lufthansa’s passenger division – including low-cost arm Germanwings – declined 2% to €387 million, while revenues grew 1.2% to €5 billion.
Industrial action by Lufthansa pilots, which has led to eight strikes since April, has generated losses of around €170 million, the group says.
At wholly-owned Swiss International Air Lines, revenues stayed flat at €1.15 billion but the company delivered a 5% operating profit increase to €125 million.
Revenues at Austrian Airlines grew 2% to €612 million, while operating profit declined by nearly a third to €37 million. Lufthansa says that the decline is due to the subsidiary’s new labour agreement with its pilots and cabin crew. However, the group says that the deal will provide Austrian with “more positive longer-term prospects”.
During the first nine months, Lufthansa Group’s operating profit grew 28% to €849 million, while revenues increased marginally to €22.6 billion. Net profit nearly doubled to €482 million.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
