The first quarter of the current year 2024 was not at all financially successful for the Lufthansa Group. In the same period last year, a negative adjusted EBIT of 273 million euros was reported and now this value has worsened to -849 million euros. The reason for this is seen in various strikes that took place in Germany and Austria, among others.

There were many work stoppages in the Federal Republic of Germany in the first quarter of 2024, which had an impact on Lufthansa's flight operations. The company's own ground staff repeatedly went on strike, there were pilot strikes at Discover Airlines and the flight attendants at both Kranich and its subsidiary Cityline stopped work. There were also frequent calls for work stoppages, which affected security personnel working at airports and other professional groups. Outside Germany, there are tariff disputes with Brussels Airlines in Belgium and with Austrian Airlines in Austria. Things are also simmering at the holiday airline Edelweiss Air at the moment.

In general, the frequent strikes at Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines, among others, could have had an impact on the booking behavior of passengers. As far as possible, passengers seem to be increasingly switching to other providers because there is a not unfounded fear that the flight could then not be carried out due to a strike. Since there were repeated strikes on the railways, many travel plans seemed to have been generally thrown overboard.

Lufthansa estimates the alleged damage caused by strikes in the first quarter of 2024 at around 350 million euros. The Group's adjusted free cash flow was positive at EUR 305 million, primarily due to continued high income from ticket advance payments.

“The group expects the operating result in the second quarter to be below that of the previous year. Due to the effects of the tariff disputes, which have now been resolved, particularly at Lufthansa Airlines, on short-term booking demand and the ongoing conflicts at Austrian Airlines, earnings in the second quarter are expected to be additionally burdened by around 100 million euros. In addition, capacity additions in the second quarter are expected to be slightly lower than originally planned to support improvements in on-time performance for customers and due to delays in new aircraft deliveries. Overall, bookings are in line with original expectations, particularly for the summer holiday months, which supports the Group's outlook for the second half of the year. In the second half of the year, the result is expected to be higher than in the previous year,” Lufthansa said in a media statement.

For the full year 2024, the forecast is being revised downwards to an adjusted EBIT of 2,2 billion euros. In the previous year this value was 2,682 billion euros. The Kranich Group recently assumed that this year it would significantly exceed last year's performance. However: “The as yet unforeseeable effects of the recent escalation of the Middle East conflict and further geopolitical uncertainties represent risks for the Group’s full-year outlook,” said Lufthansa.