Lufthansa profit growth in passengers slows down

FRANKFURT - Reuters

An aircraft belonging to German air carrier Lufthansa takes off from Fraport airport in Frankfurt in this May 6 photo. REUTERS photo

Lufthansa’s profit from its airline passenger division, its biggest business, grew more slowly in the third quarter as cost cuts only partly offset the impact of the weaker yen and rupee as well as fierce competition in Asia.

Profit at the division, which generated 78 percent of group revenues last year, grew 3.5 percent to 561 million euros ($772.6 million) in the three months to the end of September, compared with 15.4-percent growth in the year-earlier quarter.

Europe’s biggest airline also warned that it now expected its cargo business to end 2013 with a result “in the high double-digit million euro range” compared with its previous outlook for operating profit in a three-digit million range.

Lufthansa last week reported a 27-percent slump in group operating profit for the first nine months to about 660 million euros, hurt by currency effects. Other European airlines such as Ryanair and Finnair have recently trimmed their profit expectations, citing lower demand.