Germany's national carrier Lufthansa reported a rise in net profit for the full year, citing an increase in revenue and higher travel demand.
For the 12-month period, the airline reported a net income of €1.673 billion ($1.823 billion), or €1.40 per share, higher than €791 million, or €0.66 per share, reported last year.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) surged to €2.669 billion from previous year's €1.419 billion.
Excluding special items, EBIT was €2.682 billion, compared with €1.520 billion a year ago.
Adjusted EBIT margin increased to 7.6% from last year's 4.9%. A total of 123 million passengers travelled with the airlines of the group, a 20% increase from compared with 102 million a year ago.
The group increased the number of flights offered by 14% to 946,000.
The number of seats on offer was gradually expanded over the course of the year. On average, the airlines offered 84% of 2019 capacity last year.
The company noted that the seat load factor also improved by 3.1% points to around 83%, returning to pre-crisis levels. Revenue was €35.422 billion, up from €30.895 billion last year.
For the full year, the company will pay a dividend of €0.30 per share.
For the first-quarter, the airline expects a wider adjusted EBIT loss, due to the impact of strikes on earnings and a decline in profits in the logistics division, which in the first quarter of the last year still benefited from the exceptionally strong growth in the air-freight market in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lufthansa is also investing around €4.5 billion in new aircraft, new seats, lounges, improved culinary and digital offerings in order to boost customer satisfaction.
Citing strong demand, the group projects a significant rise in annual revenue. The unit revenues of the passenger airlines are expected to be stable or only slightly below the previous year level, while unit costs are expected to remain stable.
Lufthansa projects its annual adjusted EBIT to be on the same level as in 2023 with an adjusted EBIT margin of at least 8%.
Full-year net capital expenditure is expected to reach €2.5 billion to €3 billion.
For the full year, the group anticipates an average capacity offer of around 94% compared to 2019. This corresponds to a year-on-year growth of around 12%.
