Lufthansa revenue up 5%, operating profits fall on fuel cost

The Lufthansa Group increased its revenue by 4.9% to EUR 30.1 bln in the past financial year. At EUR 524 mln, the Group’s operating result was down 36.1% but the net result went up from -13 mln in the previous year to EUR 990 mln in 2012, primarily due to the disposal of shares in Amadeus IT Holding and the sale of the loss-making British Midland.

“With our SCORE programme, we have launched a comprehensive process of change ever seen in the history of Lufthansa. In addition to costs and income, we have set up a number of major strategic projects, such as the new Germanwings, the turnaround of Austrian Airlines and the pooling of administrative activities in the areas of HR, purchasing and finance,” said Christoph Franz, Chairman and CEO during the presentation of the 2012 financial results in Frankfurt.
“Our aim is to make Lufthansa strong. We want to expand our position as Europe’s leading aviation group and considerably boost our profitability in every business segment.”
Making better use of synergies in purchasing, coordinating flight plans between airlines, adjusting capacities and lowering staff costs have all played a role, as have numerous measures which had been initiated before the launch of SCORE, such as the closure of Lufthansa Italia.
The primary cause of the fall in Group profits was the price of fuel, which was EUR 1.1 bln higher than in the previous year.
Christoph Franz said that strengthening the core business segment included modernising the fleet with 236 new, modern aircraft which are currently on our order list.
“We will bring 34 new, fuel-efficient and low-noise aircraft into service, which will replace older models.”
Lufthansa Technik, LSG SkyChefs and Lufthansa Systems generated higher year-on-year profit contributions.