Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr relies on US President Joe Biden to revive international air traffic. In the near future, the Lufthansa boss said the first media reports from the USA will allow the entry of EU citizens who have been vaccinated twice. There is a clear signal that the topic is being worked on at high speed.
The routes across the North Atlantic have long been the most important business of the crane group, which so far has conservatively expected an end to the current entry stop for the end of September. Already now, while almost exclusively US citizens are allowed to fly between the two continents, the group is heading to almost all previous US destinations and is generating more sales there than with any other long-distance traffic area. “The recovery is coming from North America,” said Spohr. Lufthansa also expects improved reciprocal entry conditions in Asia towards the end of the year.
The MDax Group’s business figures published on Thursday for the second quarter of 2021 once again made it clear that the recovery is sorely needed. With a turnover of 3.2 billion euros, Lufthansa was able to limit the loss to 756 million euros, but it does not dare to make a profit this summer or for the year as a whole. For the first half of 2021, there is already a loss of 1.8 billion euros on the books after 6.7 billion euros for the entire disaster year 2020.
While the airlines continued to fly in high losses this spring, positive contributions came from the record-breaking cargo division Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik with its maintenance business, which is up again, and the catering subsidiary LSG, which is up for sale, with its non-European business. Despite the welcome profit contributions, Spohr is sticking to the sales plans. The LH technology, which is part of the core business, is only about the sale of a minority stake, which will be decided within this year. The sale must compensate for the lost profits, otherwise it would not be carried out.
The group has made progress with the planned downsizing, which will primarily affect the core company Lufthansa with its high personnel costs. More than 30,000 employees have already left the group around the world, and 10,000 more people should leave in Germany alone. Of these, 5,000 had already decided to say goodbye, reported CFO Remco Steenbergen. Of the other 5,000, a four-digit number of cabin employees will accept severance offers. For the pilots, the offer continues to apply with a part-time mandatory for all to avoid operational layoffs, said Spohr. He is more optimistic here than he was a few months ago.
The CEO also still considers it possible to repay the billions in aid received from the German state by means of a capital increase before the federal election on September 26th. However, this also depends on various factors on the capital market. It was only in the second quarter that the company had drawn a further 1.5 billion euros from the federal government’s second silent contribution, so that the total state aid it had used now amounts to 4 billion euros. In total, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland provided 9 billion euros.
For the first time since the beginning of the crisis, Lufthansa also received more cash in the spring than out of it. The bookings for the coming months in particular ensured a positive operating cash flow of 784 million euros. For the full year Lufthansa expects to be able to keep its adjusted loss before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) below the previous year’s figure of 5.5 billion euros. In the third quarter, flight availability is expected to rise to around 50 percent of the pre-crisis level, after having only reached 29 percent in the second quarter. On average for the year as a whole, the capacity offered is likely to be around 40 percent of the pre-Corona year 2019.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210804-99-710295 / 5
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