Lufthansa Back In Black Due To Strong Summer Demand

Frankfurt-based air carrier Lufthansa made a small operating profit in the summer on the back of strong demand for its air freight services and a recovery in ticket sales, chief executive Carsten Spohr said on Wednesday.

Photo Insert: For now, it appears that Lufthansa has safely touched down in profit country.

During the year as a whole, Spohr is aiming to at least halve the operating loss - adjusted earnings before interest and tax - that the airline incurred during 2020, the year of the pandemic, Steffen Weyer and Christian Ebner reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa.) Last year, Lufthansa saw an operating loss of almost 5.5 billion euros (6.4 billion dollars).

"With rising demand for business travel and a record result of Lufthansa Cargo we have mastered another milestone on our way out of the crisis: We are back to black. We confirm our leading position among the world's largest airline groups," Spohr said.

By 2022, Lufthansa is planning to increase its service to around 70 percent of pre-crisis levels. During the third - summer - quarter, Lufthansa almost doubled turnover compared to the same quarter last year to 5.2 billion euros.

Despite costs related to reducing staff, the airline booked an operating profit of 17 million euros for the quarter, against a loss last year of almost 1.3 billion euros.

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