Lufthansa flies back into first profit since pandemic began

German national carrier Lufthansa said Wednesday that it was back in the black in the third quarter of this year -- for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic -- as restrictions are lifted and air travel takes off again. 

“With rising demand for business travel and a record result of Lufthansa Cargo, we have mastered another milestone on our way out of the crisis: we are back to black,” chief executive Carsten Spohr said in a statement.

The airline said its revenues almost doubled in the period from July through September, and it posted a small underlying, or operating, profit of 17 million euros ($20 million), compared with a loss of 1.3 billion euros a year earlier.

Looking ahead, Lufthansa said it expects to narrow its full-year operating loss to “less than half” the 5.5 billion euros it booked for 2020 when travel restrictions shut down large parts of the airline industry.

Its third-quarter performance this year was driven mainly by record operating profit of 301 million euros at its Lufthansa Cargo division, the statement said.