Lufthansa got a boost last year from recovery in air travel as its group of airlines reported a 17.2% rise in traffic to 90.2 million people carried.
This was a result of an upturn in the air transport sector across all regions, with the steepest growth across the Middle East and Africa by the airline group, which includes the carriers Bmi, Swiss and Austrian Airlines, a statement said.
For Lufthansa operations alone, traffic gained a more modest 5.9% to 58.9 million passengers. Bmi saw passenger numbers rise by more than two million to almost 6.2 million; Swiss carried 14.2 million and Austrian Airlines 10.9 million.
The group consolidated results from Bmi and Austrian Airlines in mid 2009 so last year was the first full 12-month period to reflect their contributions.
Lufthansa also had to deal with several negative events in 2010, from the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in April to massive cancellations in December due to bad weather.
Lufthansa was forced to cancel more than 4,500 flights last month as snow and ice hampered operations at European airports, including its hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, leading to the loss of €65 million, it said.
But while European traffic declined by 0.5% on a 12-month basis in December, it gained 3.7% elsewhere, giving the German carrier a slight overall increase of 0.2% to 6.47 million passengers.
Lufthansa has forecast an operating profit of more than €800 million for 2010, and says it will do better this year. Financial results for the group are due to be released on March 17. The group has announced the creation of 4,000 jobs despite a programme of cost cutting.