Lufthansa warned that customers should not be
surprised to see more fuel surcharge increases this year, after the carrier for
the second time in 2011 last week raised the fee.
The airline on March 14 hiked its fuel
surcharge by €2 to €28 for flights within Europe and to Russia, North Africa
and Israel. On all other routes, the surcharge rose €5, taking it to €102.
Lufthansa previously raised its surcharge on Jan. 25.
Chief financial officer Stephan Gemkow warned
in a March 17 analysts call that more surcharges are likely. He estimated that
total fuel costs for the group, including cargo, will rise to €6.8 billion in
2011 from €5.2 billion last year. 2010 fuel costs shot up €1.5 billion, of
which only €68 million was attributed to increases in network capacity.
The core Lufthansa airline
in 2010 made an operating profit of €382 million, compared with a loss of €107
million in 2009. Other Lufthansa-owned airlines had mixed fortunes: Swiss made
an operating profit of €298 million, whereas Austrian Airlines and British
Midland recorded losses of €66 million and €145 million, respectively.