Lufthansa posts record quarterly revenue as profit rises

Lufthansa Group reported higher third-quarter operating profit and its highest quarterly revenue on record.

Adjusted EBIT rose 6% year on year to EUR 1.4 billion, while revenue increased 9% to EUR 12.2 billion. Net income climbed to EUR 1.3 billion from EUR 966 million, despite a EUR 543 million rise in fuel costs from the same period a year earlier.

Strong demand across the group's businesses and tighter cost control offset higher fuel prices. The adjusted EBIT margin slipped to 11.5% from 11.9%.

Passenger demand remained firm at both the network carriers and the point-to-point business. Average yields at the network airlines rose 6.8%, helped by premium ticket sales and stronger traffic on routes to Asia and North America, while Eurowings recorded an 8% rise in yields amid continued demand for intra-European travel.

At the network airlines, available seat capacity increased by 1.6% in the quarter, largely on long-haul routes. Growth focused on South America, Africa and selected Asian services, while load factor fell by 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier.

Fuel inflation weighed heavily on the mainline operations. Fuel costs at the network airlines rose by more than EUR 400 million from a year earlier, reflecting higher jet fuel prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East.

Even so, unit costs excluding fuel and emissions expenses rose only 0.5% at the network airlines. This reflected lower spending on fees and charges, reduced project costs, automation and digitalisation under the Lufthansa Airlines turnaround programme, and the benefit of spreading fixed costs over higher capacity.

Overall, the network airlines segment generated adjusted EBIT of EUR 853 million, down EUR 108 million from a year earlier. SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines all improved on their prior-year performances, while Lufthansa Airlines was also affected by about EUR 65 million in strike-related costs in the first half of the year.

Other divisions

Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Technik provided a significant lift to the group's quarterly result. Lufthansa Technik increased revenue by 20% to EUR 2.3 billion, largely through business with external customers, while adjusted EBIT rose 54% to EUR 200 million.

Lufthansa Cargo tripled operating profit to EUR 162 million from EUR 49 million a year earlier. The freight business expanded capacity by 5%, increased cargo volumes by 7% and raised load factor by three percentage points, while yields were 22% above the prior-year level.

The point-to-point airlines segment, which includes Eurowings, reported adjusted EBIT of EUR 214 million, up EUR 16 million. Eurowings reduced capacity by 3.5% after suspending flights to the Gulf region and replacing them mainly with shorter routes to southern Europe, but unit revenue still rose 10%.

Unit costs excluding fuel and emissions expenses at Eurowings increased by 4.8%, reflecting reduced capacity, higher personnel expenses, and increased airport charges and fees, especially in Mallorca. The equity result from the SunExpress joint venture was EUR 103 million, up EUR 20 million from the previous year.

"The past quarter was the strongest in terms of revenue in the history of the Lufthansa Group. We succeeded in increasing operating profit by six percent compared to the previous year. With rising revenues amid consistently high demand and strict cost discipline, we were able to more than offset the increase in fuel costs of approximately half a billion euros. Our investments in modernizing our fleet and in-flight products are increasingly paying off. The focus remains on Lufthansa Airlines. Following the successful turnaround in reliability and customer satisfaction, we must now accelerate the financial turnaround of our core brand through both previously planned and additional measures, in order to restore it to its position as the flagship and benchmark of the Lufthansa Group in terms of value creation as well," said Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa.

Balance sheet

The group's financial position remained solid. Net debt, including net pension liabilities, stood at EUR 7.3 billion at the end of September, down from EUR 8.3 billion at the end of 2025, while available liquidity rose to EUR 11.8 billion.

Operating cash flow for the first nine months fell by about EUR 500 million to roughly EUR 3.4 billion, mainly because of lower operating profit and reduced ticket prepayments at the end of September as booking cycles shortened. Net investments were EUR 1.2 billion, down from EUR 1.8 billion, helped by higher cash inflows from aircraft sale-and-leaseback transactions.

Adjusted free cash flow for the first nine months was EUR 1.8 billion, close to the prior-year level. In the third quarter alone, adjusted free cash flow was EUR 793 million, compared with EUR 818 million a year earlier.

"We improved our result compared with the previous year, despite higher fuel costs weighing on the quarterly result by more than half a billion euros - we are satisfied with that. This was supported by robust demand in passenger traffic, our discipline on unit costs and the strong earnings contributions from Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Technik. We also expect a healthy demand environment for the fourth quarter. Due to the unchanged geopolitical situation, our expected fuel bill for the full year is rising to 9.3 billion euros. However, with a hedging ratio for our passenger airlines of around 86 percent for 2026 and already more than 60 percent for 2027, we are well positioned relative to the market. Given how far into the year we are and the higher fuel costs, we are refining our earnings forecast to between 1.7 and 2.0 billion euros. We are confident that we will achieve this range, in line with capital market expectations. Where we end up within this range will depend not only on fuel costs and demand but, in particular, on Lufthansa Cargo's earnings performance in the fourth quarter," Till Streichert, Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa, said.