Lufthansa reports new drop in passengers

Lull in demand "unabated"

Lufthansa today (July 9) reported a drop of 2.8% in passenger numbers for June compared with the same month in 2008 as the "lull in demand continued unabated."

The German flag carrier also said that sales dropped in the month by 5.2% and its load factor by 2.7% to 78.4%, despite a 2% cut in capacity.

Lufthansa said there was a "clear drop" in sales for the Americas although it said the June drop of 8.3% was "less pronounced" than in previous months.

The carrier said it and its wholly owned subsidiary SWISS had cut capacity to the region by 6.4%.

But despite a fall of 1.8%, its load factor to the region was still high at 86.2%.

The "sharpest drop in demand" was in the Asia Pacific region where it fell by 9.1% despite a cut in capacity.

Lufthansa cut its capacity to the region by 3.4% while SWISS slashed off 12.5%.

It said demand in Europe had dipped slightly by 1.7% while demand in the Middle East/Africa region had risen by 5.5% after a 16.6% rise in capacity.

Lufthansa, which reported a net loss of €256m for January-March this year, said it was "ramping up" measure to ensure it makes a profit this year.

This was "in the light of persistently weak demand in the passenger and freight sectors, structural changes in passengers' travelling behaviour, and rising fuel prices."

It said: "All business segments will take further steps to secure a profit in addition to the Group-wide activities that have already been initiated to reduce capacity and cut costs.

"The Group's goal is to avert an operating loss in the current financial year and to increase profitability durably in the years thereafter."

www.lufthansa.com