Lufthansa has predicted a bleak year in 2009 after reporting a 64% drop in profits for 2008.

It said 2009 would be one of the most challenging years in the aviation industry's history.

But the airline said its earnings could improve in 2010 if the market bottoms out late this year.

Lufthansa, which announced in October that it is looking to buy a controlling stake in bmi, saw net income for 2008 fall from €1.66 billion to €599 million.

Its load factor fell 3.3 percentage points last month, despite the airline scaling back capacity by 5.7%.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Lufthansa said it was still going ahead with its plans to buy a controlling stake in bmi.

It already owns 30% of the airline and wants to buy the 50.1% share owned by the UK airline's founder Sir Michael Bishop.

Bishop is currently preparing papers to present to the European Commission for approval.

The EC then has 25 days to decide whether to approve the deal, or can request a longer decision time.

"We have no expectations about the timing of the process," said the Lufthansa spokesman.

By Bev Fearis