Lufthansa Group has posted third-quarter profits thanks in part to efficiency measures the company took earlier in the year to limit the impact of soaring fuel prices.
On November 3, 2026, the German firm said its operating profit (Adjusted EBIT) rose 6% in the third quarter to €1.4 billion ($1.56 billion) from €1.3 billion ($1.45 billion) over the same period in 2025.
Total revenue increased by 9% to €12.2 billion ($13.6 billion) while net profit jumped 30% to €1.25 billion ($1.4 billion).
“The past quarter was the strongest in terms of revenue in the history of the Lufthansa Group,” Carsten Spohr, CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa, said. “We succeeded in increasing operating profit by six percent compared to the previous year. With rising revenues amid consistently high demand and strict cost discipline, we were able to more than offset the increase in fuel costs of approximately half a billion euros.”
Lufthansa Airlines’ profits fall
In the third quarter of 2026, Lufthansa Airlines’ Adjusted EBIT fell to €300 million ($335 million) from €454 million ($507 million) in 2025.
“The focus remains on Lufthansa Airlines,” Spohr said. “Following the successful turnaround in reliability and customer satisfaction, we must now accelerate the financial turnaround of our core brand through both previously planned and additional measures, in order to restore it to its position as the flagship and benchmark of the Lufthansa Group in terms of value creation as well.”
According to Lufthansa Group, “demand developed robustly across all segments in the third quarter” with a 7% increase in average yields “driven by strong demand for premium tickets and on the routes to Asia and North America”.
Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Technik also “delivered results significantly above the prior year and thus made a strong contribution to the quarterly result”.
Notably Lufthansa Group said across the network airlines segment its “unit costs excluding fuel and emissions expenses increased by 0.5% compared with the previous year and were therefore well below the current inflation rate”.
“Key factors for successful cost management were lower expenditure for fees and charges as well as reduced project costs,” the company added.
The firm also highlighted automation and digitalization advancement as having a “favorable effect on the development of unit cost”.
“We improved our result compared with the previous year, despite higher fuel costs weighing on the quarterly result by more than half a billion euros – we are satisfied with that,” Till Streichert, CFO of Deutsche Lufthansa, said. “This was supported by robust demand in passenger traffic, our discipline on unit costs and the strong earnings contributions from Lufthansa Cargo and Lufthansa Technik.”
Nine-months results and outlook
Adjusted EBIT for the first nine months of the year still presents a rather bleak picture with profits down 20% from the same period last year. Net profit has fallen 35% and total revenue has increased by 8%.
Lufthansa Group predicts Adjusted EBIT of between €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) and €2 billion ($2.2 billion) for the 2026 financial year.
In its previous forecast, the Lufthansa Group had anticipated an Adjusted EBIT of between €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) and €2.2 billion ($2.5 billion).
“The narrowing of the range represents a refinement of the forecast,” Lufthansa Group said. “This is to be expected given how far the year has progressed – the remaining period of less than three months reduces the spectrum of possible earnings.”
The company added: “Moreover, fuel prices have increased again in recent months. Fuel costs are now expected to be around EUR 600m higher than forecasted three months ago. For this reason, it no longer appears likely that the upper end of the previously expected earnings range will be reached.”
Lufthansa Group’s full results are available on its website.