BERLIN (Reuters) – Lufthansa reported a decline in full-year operating profit in line with expectations on Thursday, capping a difficult 2024 during which spiralling costs, limited airspace and delivery delays hit the German airline’s profitability.
Lufthansa had last year aimed for an operating margin of 8%. The group reached a much lower point of 4.4%, citing among the reasons for the drop costly strikes and lower-than-usual yields due to an industry-wide increase in capacity.
Lufthansa reported adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of 1.65 billion euros ($1.78 billion), slightly above the 1.59 billion euros expected by analysts polled by LSEG for the 2024 financial year, but down from 2.67 billion for 2023.
Lufthansa has vowed to turn around its core airline, as its performance has been dragging on the group’s overall results.
It said the restructuring programme at Lufthansa Airlines was expected to make a gross profit contribution of around 2.5 billion euros by 2028.
Referring to 2025 as a “year of transition” during which the cost-saving measures would not yet take full effect, the company said it nonetheless expected significantly higher operating profit this financial year.
($1 = 0.9256 euros)
(Reporting by Rachel More; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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