FRANKFURT: Lufthansa reported a 27 percent fall in second-quarter operating profit and lower than expected revenue on Friday after staff costs grew and demand remained weak.
Europe's biggest airline by sales confirmed its 2013 results guidance on Friday, saying sales would rise and operating profit would be higher than last year's 524 million euros ($693.4 million).
Lufthansa, in the middle of a deep revamp that includes 3,500 job cuts, said second-quarter operating profit was 431 million euros, well below the consensus forecast of 599 million euros in a Reuters poll.
However, last year's reported figure of 361 million was restated to 594 million due to changes in international accounting rules on pension costs. Analysts had said comparisons would be difficult to draw because of the restatement and one-off items.
Quarterly revenue was largely flat at 7.84 billion euros, but also missed the consensus forecast of 8.12 billion euros.
Adjusted for the one-off and accounting effects, Lufthansa said second-quarter operating profit was 438 million euros and gave a comparable figure of 269 million for the same period last year.
Fuel costs were down to 3.47 billion euros compared with 3.56 billion as airlines benefited from lower fuel prices, with Brent crude oil prices hitting a nine-month low below $100 a barrel at the beginning of the second quarter.
IAG said on Friday it had swung to a second-quarter profit as its Spanish carrier Iberia started to show signs of recovery, adding to the resilient performance of British Airways.
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