Berlin — German airline Lufthansa caught to its 2025 monetary steerage on Tuesday and mentioned it was optimistic about the important thing summer season season, placing a extra upbeat tone than some rivals whereas cautioning it was monitoring the impression of commerce tensions.
European airways are getting into the first-quarter earnings season with buyers fretting about demand as US President Donald Trump’s tariff insurance policies hit US air journey and cloud international progress prospects.
“Regardless of all of the geopolitical uncertainties, we … stay on target for progress, are optimistic in regards to the summer season, and are sticking to our constructive outlook for 2025,” Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr mentioned.
Earlier this month, US provider Delta pulled its 2025 monetary forecast, pointing to Trump’s tariff threats as a drag on demand. Virgin Atlantic additionally mentioned it had seen a slowdown in journey to Britain from the US.
Air France-KLM, which studies first-quarter outcomes on Wednesday, mentioned earlier this month it could take into account reducing economic system fares to spice up transatlantic journey if wanted.
The transatlantic route is vital for international airways, underpinning the outcomes of gamers similar to IAG-owned British Airways.
Lufthansa mentioned demand within the US gross sales area was persevering with to rise. In March, the airline group carried about 25% extra passengers from the US to Europe than a yr earlier.
Nonetheless, the corporate mentioned it had arrange “a job power to carefully monitor present developments and, if vital, reply rapidly and flexibly to any weakening in demand, for instance by adjusting capability”.
Lufthansa is relying on the profitable transatlantic route because it strives to revive its core airline, slowed down by wage talks and excessive pay, and discover new sources of income because it struggles to compete with Chinese language carriers in Asia.
Spohr advised journalists there was some weak point in bookings for the third quarter, significantly to the US, however that Lufthansa was nonetheless hopeful the numbers may rebound.
Lufthansa shares had been down 3.5% at 10.45am GMT (12.45pm) after the media name, having been little modified after the outcomes had been revealed.
“Macroeconomic uncertainties, significantly the commerce tensions between the US, the EU and different areas, are making it tough to forecast the approaching quarters precisely,” the German flag provider mentioned.
Spohr added that capability progress for the fourth quarter to the US can be revised down from 6% to three%.
For the primary three months of 2025, Lufthansa reported an adjusted loss earlier than curiosity and tax of €722m, about according to a company-compiled forecast.
That could be a 15% enchancment from a lack of €849m for a similar quarter final yr. Revenues had been up 10% on final yr at €8.1bn.
Weakening oil costs have “the potential to offset any potential modest demand softening” out there, mentioned Neil Glynn, MD at Alvarez and Marsal.
Nevertheless, RBC analyst Ruairi Cullinane pointed to a rise in working losses at Lufthansa’s passenger airways as “disappointing”.
Reuters
