With the ongoing recovery of European flights, major airline groups are anticipating a significant rise in travel for summer 2023. Lufthansa Group, one of Europe’s largest airline conglomerates (which also owns Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Eurowings, and Brussels Airlines) is predicting a ‘travel boom’ likely to be fuelled by strong leisure holiday demand - which continues its recovery post-pandemic.

To cater to the expected surge in demand, Lufthansa Group has announced plans to increase flight capacities, reintroduce routes previously suspended due to the pandemic, and invest in innovative customer service initiatives.

To cater to the expected surge in demand, Lufthansa Group has announced plans to increase flight capacities, reintroduce routes previously suspended due to the pandemic, and invest in innovative customer service initiatives.

The European aviation giant revealed a net loss of €467 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with a loss of €584 million in 2022. Lufthansa announced its Q1 loss was “mainly due to normal seasonality” stating this has been “exacerbated” by the faster recovery of the leisure market compared to business travel.

Additionally, revenue year-on-year experienced a surge of 40 percent, climbing to €7 billion; this was driven by a sharp increase in passenger numbers, which leaped from 13 million to 22 million. Average yields also saw an uptick of 19 percent compared to the figures from 2019, indicating an increase in ticket prices.

Lufthansa’s CEO, Carsten Spohr, said: “After a good first quarter in which we were able to significantly improve our result, we now expect a travel boom in the summer, as well as a new record in our traffic revenue for the year as a whole.

She continued: “On short and medium-haul leisure-oriented routes, demand is already exceeding 2019 levels. The focus now is on once again offering our guests a consistent premium product experience on all group airlines.”