N1003U

Thanks for the link. I was not aware of the regulatory changes. It sounded too good to be true. Yes, replacing EasyJet with Eurowings was not what I had in mind.

I know the French are desperate for tax revenue, so I expect to see them extort it from every possible source, including MLH air passengers.

GBM.flights

Q3 release is tomorrow.
http://investor-relations.lufthansag...terim-reports/

My guess is more of the same of Q2.
Fuel and depreciation leading positives, but the total increased profit will be a (small) fraction of that value.
Capacity to be revised further down to 2% (strikes, winter cuts, etc)

GBM.flights

Release is out:
Report
Presentation



Operating result: increase of 186Mio (28.1%), although combined fuel expenses and depreciation were down 491Mio.
Net profit: 235Mio up
Capacity: Still calling for a 3% increase
I'll stick to my Q2 comment, Fuel and depreciation are driving the improved results.

2015 operating result will not be 2.6bio (but still "significantly above" 2014 - 1bio)

YuropFlyer

Due I read it correct (non-economic language): Cheaper fuel alone made the numbers go better, cleaned of those expenses, the naked data are worse than last year?

kamel123

Operating profit 9m 2014 was EUR 849 million, up from 662 million 9m 2013, an improvement of EUR 186 million. Fuel costs 9m 2014 was EUR 5,180 million, down from 5,449 million for 9m 2013, an improvement of EUR 269 million.

So yes, at constant fuel costs, figures would have actually been slightly worse. Of course, there are more moving parts, but I think it's safe to say that these numbers show little progress and are below expectations. Stock price is down 6,5% today so far.

As it is subject of the current strikes - what can also be seen is the huge volatility introduced into the balance sheet from pension liabilities. Those went up by a cool EUR >2.5 billion or +57% due to a change in the discount rate. There is not much management can do about this short term (they don't control the interest rate environment obviously), but I understand they want to reduce that volatility longer term.

YuropFlyer

Agree on the pensions - not much to be done there by management, but those aside, it shows that SCORE is failing. It's short term gains are apparently already running out, and as more and more people are actively avoiding LH group, it gets worse and worse. Mr. Franz and now Mr. Spohr aren't doing much good work it seems, Antinori was smart to jump the ship it's course he couldn't change anyway.

I can already see Lufthansa's "answer" to it's problems: Even more cuts, even more enhancements, even more saving pennies (to lose pounds..)

It's a bit sad to see a once great company going downhill all the way, but that's life..

volta

LH lost more then 40% of its capitalization since June this year. It is coming close to lowest share price in 2 years.

TRAVELSIG

So not really tracking the DAX or FTSE 100 - good thing the fuel prices were lower- a decline in revenue however is quite significant.

GBM.flights

CAPA and their take on LH results:

bolding mine.

TRAVELSIG

Thank you for posting this interesting analysis- I found it interesting how far off results are off 2013 for the 9M to date (from the CAPA report linked above):

"Without the one-off costs and if the new depreciation policy had applied last year, the 9M2014 operating result is 10% below the equivalent 9M2013 result."

GBM.flights

Furnle posted on the Flyertalk/Vielfliegertreff and Lufthansa Kamingespräch 2014 thread that LH acknowledges the issue with NEK for some routes (TLV,AMM, CAI). Lost yield, etc.

I thought this would be the appropriate place to bash LH some more on this, and here instead of polluting the other thread.
How hard could it be to follow IB/BA? (Since they are following BA on Y+ there is no pride to be lost if the same would be done on a half-decent Euro-Biz where it matters). Get the right AC type economies but still get the yields.

BA with their 7 ex-bmi A321 sub-fleet solution (from businesstraveller)

Even IB with a 5 A321 sub-fleet (from businesstraveller):

Furnle

Well, let's give them some time. The way they will manage that problem is not decided yet. They will do something, that is sure, because they know they need to.

With that in mind, there are obviously some different paths that can be taken. A good example of that is the discussion between craming more seats in the short haul fleet, or even reverting to the previous configuration.

starflyergold

Let's not forget LH's friend/foe (depends on the day) TK

YuropFlyer

Also, SU uses proper C seats for their narrowbodies/short haul fleet:



Quite a lot of carriers, if you ask me.. and YES, I would definitely pay quite a bit more (and in fact already did 2 RTs this year with SU in short haul C) for such a proper seat, while I wouldn't spend more than maybe 50€ extra for the "pleasure" that LH group C has become for up to 6 hours..

gojko88

Even Air Serbia has it