Its net profit stood at 791 million euros last year. ANDRE PAIN / AFP
German airline giant Lufthansa returned to profit in 2022, driven by a strong resumption of flights after two years weighed down by the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. Net profit, also supported by record results in freight and maintenance, came to 791 million euros last year, compared with a loss of 2.19 billion euros a year earlier, according to a press release. Its key indicator, adjusted operating income, reached 1.51 billion euros, in line with its last known forecast, pending a “significant improvementin 2023.
The net result last year is substantially identical to the 728 million posted by the competitor Air France-KLM, also largely back in the green after the repercussions of the Covid, just like the other British rival IAG, parent company of British Airways and Iberia. Total sales have almost doubled over one year, to 32.8 billion euros.
“Lufthansa is back“, with a “unprecedented financial recovery“operated in a year, welcomed Carsten Spohr, CEO of the company, whose mandate was extended Thursday by 5 years to leave him in charge until 2028. The German State entered up to 20% in 2020 in the capital of the group during a rescue plan of 9 billion euros in the face of the health crisis sold all its shares in September.
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555 million euros in additional costs in 2022
Last year’s performance was achieved despite “cost inflation“, according to the press release, with the increase in the cost of kerosene since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The resumption of flights has not been without hitches either: global bottlenecks in the airline industry last summer led to the cancellation of thousands of flights and many travelers complained to Lufthansa of delays or lost suitcases.
The group figures at 555 million euros the additional costs linked to these disappointments, also including strike days among staff, for better wages, and in airports. If the group nevertheless shows a comfortable profit, it owes it to the record operational performance of its subsidiaries Lufthansa Cargo (1.6 billion euros) in freight and Lufthansa Technik (511 million euros) in aircraft maintenance.
The passenger activity of the leading European airline group – which includes the airlines Austrian, Swiss, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines alongside Lufthansa – generated an adjusted operating loss of 300 million euros, the positive balance of 900 million on the second part of the year did not compensate for a very negative first half. In all, 102 million passengers took these companies last year, more than double the number of 2021, but still well below the record of 145 million passengers dating from before the Covid, in 2019. Revenues from the passenger branch more than doubled, to 22.8 billion euros, with revenue per seat up 148% year-on-year in a context of rising ticket prices.
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Lufthansa will expand its scope
The group expects for 2023 a “continued strong demand“of travel, especially in tourism and in particular at the front of the aircraft in the classrooms”premium“. While the total seat capacity of the fleet represented 72% of the pre-crisis level in 2022, it must be increased to 75% in the first quarter of 2023 and reach between 85 and 90% over the current year. Lufthansa is still targeting an adjusted operating margin of at least 8% in 2024, after 4.6% last year and better expected this year.
The company with the logo designing a crane is about to expand its scope. In January, Lufthansa submitted an offer to initially acquire a minority stake in the Italian public company ITA Airways, reserving the option to increase its capital thereafter. This transaction is subject to “negotiations with the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance“, comments the group, without further details on the timetable or the amounts involved.
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