By Olivia Bugault
Deutsche Lufthansa AG on Wednesday posted a much smaller third-quarter net loss and swung to positive adjusted earnings before interest and taxes for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic as bookings rose.
“At the end of the third quarter, new bookings had already reached around 80 per cent of the 2019 level,” the company said.
The German carrier said that it sticks to its capacity outlook of 60% of 2019’s level for the fourth quarter and about 40% for the full year. It targets capacity of roughly 65% of pre-pandemic levels for the first quarter of 2022, with a ramp up to about 80% for next summer.
For the last three months of the year, Lufthansa targets positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, it said.
The airline booked a third-quarter net loss of 72 million euros ($83.4 million) compared with a loss of EUR1.97 billion a year earlier and its adjusted earnings before interest and taxes turned positive at EUR17 million, the first time since the pandemic began, the company said. Excluding restructuring costs, adjusted EBIT were EUR272 million.
Revenue rose to EUR5.21 billion from EUR2.66 billion, and adjusted free cash flow was positive at EUR13 million.
Lufthansa made further progress in its restructuring plan and “measures have already been implemented that will eliminate costs of around 2.5 billion euros annually,” it said.
Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@wsj.com
This article was originally published by Marketwatch.com. Read the original article here.
