Lufthansa Group maintains profitable outlook for 2011

Lufthansa Group Chairman and CEO Christoph Franz confirmed (03-May-2011) the company's forecast for the current business year, saying he continued to believe that the group would post revenue and an operating result above the previous year's figure. Mr Franz added it is too early to provide a more detailed profit forecast after the turbulent start to the year. He has also expressed dismay at the German traffic tax and the addition of aviation to the European emissions trading system. He stressed that oil prices at record levels simply did not allow for a tax-related increase in the cost of air travel and warned that Lufthansa's investments, disciplined cost control and painful structural changes will not allow it, or Germany and Europe to share in the global growth of air transport if a fair and reliable political framework cannot be assured. Lufthansa Group expects to employ 4000 new staff in Germany this year.

Lufthansa Group: "The start into the current business year was a turbulent one. The catastrophes in Japan and political unrest in Africa and the Middle East called on us to show our flexibility once more - they are again evidence of the high volatility of our industry. It is therefore all the more important that burdens, such as the German air traffic tax or the European emissions trading system, not present competitive disadvantages and have a negative effect on demand for the German and European airlines," Christoph Franz, Chairman and CEO. Source: Lufthansa Group, 03-May-2011.