01-08-2025
Winners, Losers, and Lots of Premium Seats: Europe's Airline Scorecard
Premium cabins still drive profits, but it's the low-cost threat that keeps Europe's legacy carriers up at night.
Europe's three big legacy airline groups – Lufthansa, IAG, and Air France-KLM – all reported earnings over the past two days, offering a revealing snapshot of the continent's aviation story. While demand for travel remains strong, the results show different stages of turnaround and profitability across the region's major flag carriers.
For the Lufthansa Group, recent years have been defined by labor strikes, operational stumbles, aircraft delivery delays, and stiff new aviation taxes. Last year, the group eked out a 4% operating margin largely thanks to its cargo and maintenance arms – while its flagship Lufthansa airline actually lost money.
The second quarter suggests Lufthansa's long-promised turnaround is finally taking shape. It posted a group-wide 8% operating margin, up nearly two points year on year. Lufthansa mainline managed 5%, while Swiss soared to 13%, Austrian quietly hit nearly 10%, and even leisure carrier Eurowings turned
