Air Berlin has reported a 33% jump in profits the second quarter, to €17.6m from €13.2m in the same period last year.

Germany’s second-biggest airline after Lufthansa also said it expected revenue per seat to remain stable in the second half of the year.

Earlier this month the airline said its load factor widened for the first time this year in July as it reduced capacity faster than the fall in demand for air travel. As a result it says it has been managing to raise prices over recent months. Its number of seats on offer in July declined 3.4 percent.

In the second half of this year, it expects load factors to decrease slightly due to a further decline in demand, Air Berlin said on Tuesday.

Revenues fell by 3.8 percent to €836.2 million, in line with estimates.

Air Berlin’s stock has fallen by nearly a quarter so far this year and have lost about 70 percent of its value since the company’s initial public offering in 2006.

Air Berlin CEO Joachim Hunold said “Despite a challenging market environment, Air Berlin has succeeded in improving its relative position with respect to flights within Europe. Using different capital measures, Air Berlin has succeeded in improving its equity and liquidity, thus significantly lowering net indebtedness. ”

Air Berlin has also shelved plans to sell its freight unit because of lack of interest, but said the sale may go ahead later when the market picks up.

The carrier also says it may cancel its order for 25 Boeing 787s because of delivery delays.

Air Berlin has also scaled down its long-haul services after its strategy to focus on business travellers failed and it was forced to close down new China routes.