The Lufthansa Group has reported adjusted EBIT rose by €290 million year-on-year to €468 million for the six months ended June 30th.

Sales increased by 8.5 per cent to €15.4 billion over the period, with traffic revenue accounting for €12.1 billion of that figure.

Yields for the Lufthansa Group’s passenger airlines rose by 2.4 per cent in the first half of 2015, which was mainly exchange rate related.

Had it not been for the tailwind from a weaker euro, however, yields would have been appreciably lower, in line with expectations.

In the second quarter alone, yields declined by 5.7 per cent after adjusting for exchange rate effects.

Although unit costs as a whole also rose mainly as a result of currency exchange rates, the €309 million reduction in fuel costs coupled with improved sales and capacity utilisation more than compensated for the reduction in prices.

All currency effects in the first six months net to a total negative impact of €158 million.

The net effect is negative as Lufthansa Group has higher costs in foreign currencies, among others due to fuel spending in US dollar, compared to the revenue side in foreign currencies.

The group’s net result for the first six months of the year rose to €954 million, compared with a net loss of €79 million for the same period in the prior year.

In addition to a higher operating result, this is mainly due to the increase in the financial result.
Simone Menne, chairman of the financial and aviation services of Deutsche Lufthansa AG said: “Our first-half results are solid.

“Aside from the positive development of our business operating areas and, in particular, our passenger airlines, which gained extra momentum in the second quarter, the fall in fuel costs is largely responsible for the improvement in our results.

“We will, however, not be misled by that, since we assume that the price level for airline tickets will not recover.

“We will therefore continue to work consistently on the competitive focus of the Lufthansa Group.”