Higher fuel costs hits Lufthansa’s profit

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Oct 30 (AFP): German airline giant Lufthansa reported falling profits in the third quarter, hit by higher fuel costs and the pricey integration of defunct competitor Air Berlin.
Between July and September, net profit at the Frankfurt-based group fell 10 per cent year-on-year, to 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion).
Despite the drop, that was still better than a 983 million euros forecast from analysts surveyed by Factset.
Operating, or underlying profit adjusted for some one-off items -- the company's preferred measure of its performance -- also fell, shedding 10.8 per cent to 1.35 billion euros.
Revenues grew 1.5 per cent to 9.96 billion euros.
In a statement chief executive Carsten Spohr hailed "the second-best nine-month result in our history" as the group reported adjusted operating profit of 2.4 billion euros between January and September.