Lufthansa Q2 profit falls on fuel costs, taxes

BERLIN (AP) ? German airline Lufthansa is blaming high fuel costs and new taxes on air travel in Germany and Austria for a 24 percent decline in second quarter earnings.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG says Thursday that net earnings fell to ?229 million ($270 million) from ?301 million a year earlier. Revenue grew by 6 percent to ?7.9 billion and the number of passengers between April and June rose slightly to 27.5 million.

The Lufthansa group includes Austrian Airlines and Swiss. The Cologne-based company also holds stakes in Brussels Airlines and JetBlue of the United States.

Lufthansa's second-quarter performance followed a loss of ?397 million in the first three months of the year, also blamed on high fuel prices.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-08-02-Germany-Earns-Lufthansa/id-af9da32022c845d6a525954b4d736338

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