Lufthansa reports €1.2 billion quarterly loss due to coronavirus pandemic

Lufthansa Group on June 3 reported a quarterly loss of 1.2 billion euros citing the decline in air travel due to pandemic as a reason for the result. Lufthansa's revenue in the first quarter fell by 18 percent to 6.4 billion euros (previous year: 7.8 billion euros). Lufthansa said that it must now take far-reaching restructuring measures to deal with the loss. 

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"Global air traffic has come to a virtual standstill in recent months. This has impacted our quarterly results to an unprecedented extent. In view of the very slow recovery in demand, we must now take far-reaching restructuring measures to counteract this," said Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG in a press release.

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"In total, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group carried 21.8 million passengers in the first three months, around a quarter less than in the same quarter last year (- 26.1 percent). In April, the Lufthansa Group airlines recorded a 98.1 percent year-on-year decline in passenger numbers to 2,41,000," said the group in a release on Wednesday. 

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Lufthansa Group to reduce unit costs

The Lufthansa Group plans to significantly reduce unit costs compared with pre-crisis levels as part of the restructuring measures. Fixed costs have been reduced by short-time working for around 87,000 employees, the postponement or cancellation of planned projects and the postponement of maintenance events. Brussels Airlines, a subsidiary of Lufthansa plans to reduce its fleet by 30 percent and its workforce by 25 percent. 

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