Expenses
Operating expenses down 2%
Operating expenses came to EUR 18,113m in the reporting year, 2% lower than in the previous year (EUR 18,534m). This trend was mainly driven by the fall in fuel expenses and in compensation payments to passengers as a result of flight irregularities. Depreciation, amortisation and impairment and other operating expenses were also lower. By contrast, staff costs were higher due to wage rises and a year-on-year increase in the headcount.
| T082 | Trends in traffic regions of Deutsche Lufthansa AG | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic revenue | Passengers | Available seat-kilometres | Revenue seat-kilometres | Passenger load factor | |||||||
| 2025 | Change | 2025 | Change | 2025 | Change | 2025 | Change | 2025 | Change | ||
| in €m | in % | in thousands | in % | in millions | in % | in millions | in % | in % | in pts | ||
| Europe | 5,188 | -5 | 41,293 | -5 | 45,174 | -2 | 36,476 | -2 | 80.7 | -0.5 | |
| Americas | 5,285 | 2 | 7,805 | 4 | 70,202 | 4 | 59,624 | 5 | 84.9 | 0.3 | |
| Asia/Pacific | 2,642 | 1 | 3,862 | 0 | 35,020 | -4 | 29,914 | 0 | 85.4 | 3.2 | |
| Middle East/ Africa |
1,130 | 6 | 2,558 | 6 | 13,023 | 2 | 10,621 | 3 | 81.6 | 1.3 | |
| Total traffic | 14,245 | -1 | 55,518 | -3 | 163,419 | 1 | 136,635 | 2 | 83.6 | 0.8 | |
The cost of materials and services decreased year-on-year by 5 % to EUR 10,723m (previous year: EUR 11,288m). Almost one third of the cost of materials and services consisted of fuel expenses, which fell by 10% to EUR 3,453m (previous year: EUR 3,834m). The drop is due to a lower procurement price, a positive exchange rate effect and lower consumption than the previous year.
Expenses for external services decreased by 4% to EUR 6,978m (previous year: EUR 7,241m). Flight operations were much more stable than in the previous year, which is the main reason why expenses to compensate passengers for flight irregularities fell to EUR 236m (previous year: EUR 525m). Expenses for operating leases and charter expenses were also down. Expenses for operating leases dropped by 6% year-on-year to EUR 668m (previous year: EUR 707m), while charter expenses decreased by 18% to EUR 466m (previous year: EUR 565m). Intra-Group chartering expenses for Lufthansa CityLine declined significantly compared with the previous year, while charter expenses for external airlines such as AirBaltic or CityJet increased year-on-year. Expenses for external MRO services were virtually unchanged year-on-year at EUR 2,039m (previous year: EUR 2,034m), whereas fees and charges increased by 7% to EUR 2,048m (previous year: EUR 1,907m), principally due to higher prices.
Staff costs went up by 6% to EUR 4,103m (previous year: EUR 3,858m). The reasons behind the increase were higher pay agreements for in-flight and ground crew, the year-on-year increase in the headcount, and higher additions to provisions for variable remuneration.
Depreciation and amortisation decreased by 16%, to EUR 331m (previous year: EUR 393m). The decline is mainly due to the addition of several aircraft to Austrian aircraft leasing companies.
Other operating expenses were around the previous year’s level at EUR 2,956m (previous year: EUR 2,995m).
Certain economic hedging relationships are presented in the financial statements as balance sheet hedging relationships in accordance with Section 254 HGB. Instruments to hedge the price of future fuel requirements, foreign currency hedging transactions to hedge exchange rates and interest rate hedges for interest-bearing financial liabilities are combined with corresponding hedged items within valuation units in accordance with Section 254 HGB.