A rebound in travel demand helped move Lufthansa back into the black in 2010 with a net profit of €1.1 billion.
This compared with a loss of €34 million in 2009 as revenue rose by 22% to €27.3 billion. Lufthansa said the figures were “gratifying” given the impact of severe December weather.
The German company will boost passenger capacity at the main-brand airline by 11% this summer to handle rising demand.
Lufthansa’s full-year operating profit rose almost seven-fold to €876 million even after the snowfalls wiped €65 million from earnings.
The number of first-class seats on its aging Boeing 747-400s is to be halved from 16 to eight in a move designed to give passengers more space in line with its newer Airbus A380 superjumbos.