The Lufthansa Group's traffic revenue declined 1 percent year over year to 7.99 billion euros in the third quarter as the airline faces financial pressure from rising fuel costs and its acquisition of parts of Airberlin.
The group has dealt with operational challenges as it integrates part of the former Airberlin into Eurowings' fleet, which forced several delays and cancellations within the carrier. Integration expenses cost the group 170 million euros over the first nine months of the year, and Lufthansa chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr said extra expenses from delays, cancellations and rising fuel costs will cost the group more than 1 billion euros this year. Even so, Spohr maintained the acquisition was a "historic opportunity." He said, "It was the right decision to do so in strategic terms, even if this has given Eurowings a very challenging 2018," Spohr said. "We view the one-off costs of integrating these operations and of our rapid expansion as a long-term investment that will help sustainably strengthen our market position."
The Lufthansa Group, which also includes Swiss and Austrian Airlines, has cut back its capacity plans. For the upcoming winter season, it projects capacity growth of 8 percent year over year, which is below the 10 percent average projected for airlines in Germany. For the subsequent summer period, the group trimmed capacity growth to 3.8 percent, down from earlier projections of more than 5 percent.
The group reported a net result of 1.35 billion euros for the quarter, down from 1.4 billion euros in the third quarter of 2017.
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