Lufthansa revenues almost doubles year-on-year

Berlin, Oct 28 Revenues of German flag carrier Lufthansa have almost doubled year-on-year to 10.1 billion euros in the third quarter of 2022, the airline said.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose to 1.1 billion euros and were more than four times as high as in the same period last year,reports Xinhua news agency citing the carrier as saying on Thursday.

In the previous quarter, Lufthansa had made a profit for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Due to the devastating effect of the pandemic on air traffic, Lufthansa had to be rescued by the German government.

The company has repaid the stabilization funds it received from the government, which in turn has sold its shares in Lufthansa, bringing the airline fully back in private hands.

The government has thus raised 760 million euros from the sale of its full stake in the company.

The number of passengers carried by Lufthansa has also recovered, rising by 65 per cent year-on-year to 33 million, but it still trails behind pre-pandemic levels.

Like the entire aviation industry, Europe's largest carrier in terms of passenger numbers has often proved unable to meet demand due to staff shortages caused by Covid-related job cuts as well as strike actions.

This led to summer travel chaos with thousands of cancellations.

Staff strikes in the third quarter cost Lufthansa 70 million euros.

Following a wage agreement in September, however, further strikes have been ruled out until mid-2023.