German flag-carrier Lufthansa Group announces net loss of $785.9M in Q1

Despite rise in revenue to $7.4B, company sees higher-than-expected operating loss of $374.6M attributed to employee strikes

ISTANBUL (AA) - Germany’s flag-carrier airline Lufthansa Group announced on Tuesday a net loss of €734 million ($785.9 million) in the first quarter of this year.

Despite the 5% annual rise in its revenue from €7 billion ($7.4 billion) to €7.4 billion ($7.9 billion), the group added that the Adjusted EBIT, “the operating loss,” was at €849 million ($908.6 million).

Given the employee strikes for the higher-than-expected negative impact on earnings, “we cannot be satisfied with the operating result for the first quarter,” said Remco Steenbergen, chief financial officer of the firm, as the group spent €350 million ($374.6 million) in the first quarter of the year due to accepting higher wages from employees and cancelations caused by strikes.

The news release also noted that the airline hosted 24 million passengers in the same period.

It added that the full-year Adjusted EBIT is expected to reach around €2.2 billion ($2.3 billion).

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