Bmi parent suffers impact of Japan disaster and North African unrest

Catastrophes in Japan, political unrest in North Africa, rising oil prices and a severe winter all took their toll on the Lufthansa Group in the first three months of this year.

The group reported an operating loss of €227 million, compared with a loss of €330 million reported this time last year.

This was despite revenue growth of 11.8% to €6.4 billion.

The group"s passenger airline business, which includes Lufthansa, bmi, Germanwings, Swiss and Austrian Airlines, recorded an operating loss just below last year"s figure at €391 million.

The group said Lufthansa and Germanwings both suffered from the new German air traffic tax that was introduced at the beginning of the year.

Lufthansa passenger airline posted a first-quarter operating loss of €234 million, while Germanwings closed the first quarter with an operating loss of €44 million.

Austrian Airlines reduced its operating loss to €64 and bmi entered an operating result of €63 million.

Swiss was the only airline which did not report a loss, recorded an operating profit of €17 million.

Summing up, the group"s statement said: "Lufthansa does not consider the generally positive development of the current year at risk and the Group"s Executive Board therefore continues to anticipate a year-on-year increase in revenue and operating result for 2011.

"However, the uncertainty surrounding the further developments in Japan and North Africa, as well as their implications with regard to the oil price, do not allow for any further quantification of the full-¬"year operating result."

By Bev Fearis