Lufthansa Group executives on Tuesday said they remain confident at the moment about North Atlantic demand, despite the increased level of uncertainty that crept into the first quarter.
The group includes Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Swiss and ITA Airways.
The booking outlook for the North Atlantic region remains strong, said Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr. In the first quarter, the number of passengers on flights to and from North America increased by more than 7 percent, and "we remain confident for our planned 6 percent growth for the North Atlantic for this summer," he said. "However, we are prepared to reduce that growth already before the winter if market developments require, which we don't see at this time."
Spohr said that corporate travel "remains stable," adding that "we don't see anything different than our U.S. peers."
"We actually have seen a slight increase in Q1 '25 versus last year, '24, driven by the North Atlantic and Asia-Pacific," Spohr said. "Even the tariff situation rather requires more corporate travelers to go and fix supply chains or find new supply chains than staying at home."
There also has been strong demand for tickets in the new Allegris cabin on Lufthansa "with targeted bookings and a high readiness to pay for the differentiated business-class seats we offer," Spohr said.
Still, the company is beginning to see some signs of softness in third-quarter bookings compared with historical patterns.
"Bookings have slightly softened in the U.S. destinations to and from, mainly in the lower-fare classes," Spohr said. " However, we have often observed in the past that customers' booking windows become shorter in volatile times. So, I think we will see some of these bookings probably surfacing over the next weeks rather than disappearing for good."
Despite the early Q3 booking slowdown, Lufthansa Group sees favorable developments in fuel prices and foreign exchange rates.
Lufthansa CFO Till Streichert asked What this combination of risks and favorable factors means, and gave an example that if traffic revenue on transatlantic routes for the final nine months of 2025 declined by more than 10 percent year over year, it would be "balanced by the favorable decline in fuel prices amounting to a tailwind of around €600 million."
Lufthansa Q1 Metrics
Lufthansa Group reported first-quarter revenue of €8.13 billion, up 10 percent year over year. Traffic revenue was €6.37 billion, an 8 percent increase from Q1 2024. The company's Q1 net loss was €885 million compared with a net loss of €734 million a year prior.
First-quarter capacity increased 5 percent year over year. The number of passengers carried during the quarter held steady at about 24.3 million, while the number of flights increased 4 percent year over year to more than 204,000.
The company also reconfirmed its full-year 2025 guidance, which included a capacity increase of 4 percent year over year, and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to "significantly increase versus 2024."
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