BERLIN, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Revenue of Lufthansa Group increased by 5.2 percent, figures for the first half of 2018 released on Tuesday showed.
Lufthansa's combined airlines were growing by 26 percent despite higher cost for kerosene.
Sales remained stable at adjusted earnings before taxes (EBIT) of 16.9 billion euros (19.8 billion U.S. dollars). During the first half of 2018, Germany's biggest airline achieved a net income of 677 million euros, compared to 672 million euros in the previous year.
With 67 million passengers, the combined airlines of Lufthansa's network recorded a new record in passenger number. However, volume factors and higher kerosene prices have caused fuel costs to rise by 216 million euros to a total of 2.8 billion euros in the first six months.
According to Lufthansa, a high number of delays and cancellations had been caused by workers' strikes and extreme weather events, but the airline also highlighted infrastructural deficits in European air traffic, such as capacity problems at national European air navigation authorities.
The process of integrating a large part of the bankrupt Air Berlin into Lufthansa's subsidiary Eurowings amounted to cost of 120 million euros in the first half of the year. The merger is to be completed in the third quarter this year, causing an estimated additional cost of 50 million euros.
Looking ahead, Ulrik Svensson, Chief Financial Officer of Lufthansa Group, promised to "create the structures to raise Eurowings' profitability to the levels of its prime competitors over the next three to four years."
