In the second quarter of 2022, Lufthansa posted a profit for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. This is mainly due to the logistics division. CEO Spohr is happy about a “strong result”.
For the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic, Lufthansa is back in the black in a quarter. The group posted a net profit of 259 million euros between April and June, as announced on Thursday. In the same period last year, the bottom line was a minus of 756 million euros in view of the pandemic. Sales amounted to 8.5 billion euros – almost three times as much as in the same period last year.
The result was mainly driven by the logistics division, the individual airlines such as Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and Eurowings remained in the red. “Demand for freight capacity is still high, also due to ongoing disruptions in sea freight,” the group said. As a result, average earnings in the air freight industry are “still well above the pre-crisis level”.
Overall, CEO Carsten Spohr spoke of a “strong result” after a challenging half year for passengers and employees. Flight operations as a whole must now be further stabilized. Lufthansa is therefore optimistic about the rest of the year and expects an operating profit for the year of at least 500 million euros.
In the second half of the year, the company wants to hire around 5,000 new people. The group had nevertheless cut over 30,000 jobs since 2020. The entire aviation industry and especially the airports are currently struggling with a shortage of staff in view of the rapid recovery in air traffic after the pandemic. The number of guests on board the Group’s airlines rose to 29 million in the second quarter after seven million in the same period last year.
