www.lufthansa.co.uk

The second largest airline in all of Europe, Lufthansa, said that earnings dropped 64 percent last year. The new predictions from Lufthansa state they will once again see another drop in profit for 2009. This is expected because of the huge global recession that has all except stopped most travelers. The overall net profit of Lufthansa fell to £599 million for the year. This number is down from £1.66 billion that the company earned the year before.

Lufthansa has done many capacity cuts to help fight off the decline in traffic; however, it has done little to help. The airline says that the number of seats being filled is shrinking. In fact, it went down 3.3 percent in just the past month. In order to stay in business, Lufthansa will be reconfiguring planes with fewer premium benefits. Also, the company is looking to deepen a £250 million savings program.

On top of cutting back on certain benefits, Lufthansa also feels it can save almost £200 million by reorganizing some of its purchasing activities. The company is also hoping to be able to save money on some administrative expenses, as well as on real estate. On top of all this, Lufthansa is still on a hiring freeze.

Things are still on the way down, according to the International Air Transport Association. Combined losses for airlines in the Europe from last year alone almost reached £8 billion. They also stated that they expect the airline industry to lose another £2.5 billion in 2009.

For more information visit: www.lufthansa.co.uk