ANZEIGE
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s
second-biggest airline, said nine-month earnings dropped 5.6
percent, missing estimates, as a slowing economy hurts bookings.
Operating profit fell to 578 million euros ($809 million)
from 612 million euros a year earlier, the Cologne, Germany-
based company said in a statement today. Analysts had expected a
figure of 649 million euros, based on five estimates.
Lufthansa has slashed a planned increase in winter capacity
by two-thirds to 4 percent as slowing economic growth, declining
consumer confidence and Europe’s sovereign debt crisis weaken
demand for flights. Full-year operating profit will still be in
the high hundreds of millions of euros, it reiterated today.
“Many of our competitors are struggling to make figures
that are not in the red,” Chief Executive Officer Christoph
Franz said in the statement. “We, on the other hand, are
expecting profits in the upper three-figure million euro range.”
Lufthansa shares have declined 39 percent this year in
Frankfurt, where the company also has its main hub, giving a
market value of 4.6 billion euros. The six-member Bloomberg EMEA
Airlines Index has fallen 33 percent over the same period.
Nine-month sales rose 9.6 percent to 22.1 billion euros,
the carrier said today, while net income declined 45 percent to
288 million euros.
Airline-industry earnings will drop by more than half this
year and 40 percent in 2012, with the risk on the downside, the
International Air Transport Association trade group reckons.
Flight Ban
Lufthansa said Sept. 20 it would miss a goal of beating
2010’s 876 million-euro operating profit while achieving a total
at the upper end of a “three-digit million euro range.”
Karl Ulrich Garnadt, chief executive officer at Lufthansa
Cargo, said last week that a night-flight ban in Frankfurt will
cost at least 10 million euros per year.
Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, reduced its
earnings target in July, saying it aims to break even this year
versus a year-earlier operating profit of 28 million euros. The
Paris-based company has pared a winter-capacity increase to 3.4
percent, cutting long-haul growth by almost half to 2.6 percent.
Air Berlin Plc, Europe’s third-biggest discount airline,
said yesterday quarterly profit minus interest and tax fell 44
percent to 96.8 million euros, 30 percent short of estimates.
For Related News and Information:
Top transportation stories: TOP TRN <GO>
Top Germany stories: TOPG <GO>
Scrolling airlines stories: NI AIR <GO>
--Editors: Chris Jasper, Chad Thomas.
second-biggest airline, said nine-month earnings dropped 5.6
percent, missing estimates, as a slowing economy hurts bookings.
Operating profit fell to 578 million euros ($809 million)
from 612 million euros a year earlier, the Cologne, Germany-
based company said in a statement today. Analysts had expected a
figure of 649 million euros, based on five estimates.
Lufthansa has slashed a planned increase in winter capacity
by two-thirds to 4 percent as slowing economic growth, declining
consumer confidence and Europe’s sovereign debt crisis weaken
demand for flights. Full-year operating profit will still be in
the high hundreds of millions of euros, it reiterated today.
“Many of our competitors are struggling to make figures
that are not in the red,” Chief Executive Officer Christoph
Franz said in the statement. “We, on the other hand, are
expecting profits in the upper three-figure million euro range.”
Lufthansa shares have declined 39 percent this year in
Frankfurt, where the company also has its main hub, giving a
market value of 4.6 billion euros. The six-member Bloomberg EMEA
Airlines Index has fallen 33 percent over the same period.
Nine-month sales rose 9.6 percent to 22.1 billion euros,
the carrier said today, while net income declined 45 percent to
288 million euros.
Airline-industry earnings will drop by more than half this
year and 40 percent in 2012, with the risk on the downside, the
International Air Transport Association trade group reckons.
Flight Ban
Lufthansa said Sept. 20 it would miss a goal of beating
2010’s 876 million-euro operating profit while achieving a total
at the upper end of a “three-digit million euro range.”
Karl Ulrich Garnadt, chief executive officer at Lufthansa
Cargo, said last week that a night-flight ban in Frankfurt will
cost at least 10 million euros per year.
Air France-KLM Group, Europe’s biggest airline, reduced its
earnings target in July, saying it aims to break even this year
versus a year-earlier operating profit of 28 million euros. The
Paris-based company has pared a winter-capacity increase to 3.4
percent, cutting long-haul growth by almost half to 2.6 percent.
Air Berlin Plc, Europe’s third-biggest discount airline,
said yesterday quarterly profit minus interest and tax fell 44
percent to 96.8 million euros, 30 percent short of estimates.
For Related News and Information:
Top transportation stories: TOP TRN <GO>
Top Germany stories: TOPG <GO>
Scrolling airlines stories: NI AIR <GO>
--Editors: Chris Jasper, Chad Thomas.
