The Lufthansa Group lost €1.26 billion in preliminary figures for the third quarter, the company announced, compared with losses of €1.7 billion in the second quarter and earnings of €1.3 billion in the same period in 2019.
The airline said, "The corona crisis continued to have a considerable impact on Lufthansa group's earnings development in the third quarter of 2020. However, due to an expansion of the flight schedule in the summer months of July and August and considerable cost reductions, losses were reduced compared to the second quarter."
During the quarter, the group's airlines paid out €2 billion in refunds for coronavirus-related flight cancellations, but these were partly offset by cash inflows from the expansion of flight activities.
The company said that at the end of September, it had liquidity of €10.1 billion at its disposal, which includes €6.3 billion of undrawn funds from stabilization packages in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium.
The group said it was in a position to withstand further burdens from the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Demand for air travel is expected to remain low in the coming winter months due to the global evolution of the pandemic and the associated travel restrictions.
"According to current planning, the group's airlines will only offer a maximum of 25% of the previous year's capacity in the fourth quarter to ensure that flight operations continue to generate a positive cash contribution.
"At the same time, Lufthansa group is working intensively on restructuring measures in all business segments in order to achieve short and medium-term cost savings and minimize the operating cash outflow."
Originally published in BTN Europe.