German flag carrier Lufthansa profits triple

German flag carrier Lufthansa said yesterday it tripled its net profit in the third quarter, easily beating market expectations on the back of a robust economic recovery.

The airline said third quarter net profit came in at €628 million, far higher than the €390 million forecast by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Operating profit soared to €783 million, more than €500 million higher than during the same period last year, Lufthansa said in a statement.

“The good result is the consequence of the increasingly positive development of demand in passenger and freight traffic,” it said, adding that in-house cost-cutting and synergy within its group of airlines had also driven profits.

“The Lufthansa Group has successfully flown through the economic and financial crisis,” chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said.

The group also owns Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Britain’s BMI as well as Germanwings.

In 2009, the company laun­ched a drive to slash €1 billion in spending by the end of 2011, sparking tensions with staff including pilots, who went on strike in February.

But following that turbulence in the first quarter and major disruptions in the second due to the Icelandic ash cloud, the third quarter marked a resounding improvement.

On Wednesday, Lufthansa posted a nine-month net profit of €524 million, up from just €31 million a year earlier.

Lufthansa gave a sunny outlook for the remainder of the year - barring an economic slowdown or a major hike in fuel prices.

The company now expects 2010 operating profit to exceed €800 million, driven mainly by a strong rebound in long-haul passenger and freight traffic as well as reduced costs.

It criticised government plans to introduce next year an air travel tax of €8, €25 or €45, payable by passengers depending on the length of the flight, saying it could drive business to foreign airports.

The tax is part of a major austerity drive and is expected to raise around €1 billion per year.