Lufthansa posted a Q3 net profit of E1.42b, up 79.1% from last year. The increase was principally due to a one-off gain from a collective agreement with the UFO flight attendants’ union on pensions. Adjusted EBIT for the quarter to end September was E1.148b, from E1.225b in the prior year period. Total revenue came in at E8.828b, down 1.2% on 2015. During the quarter Lufthansa raised capacity by 4%. Revenue came in 2.1% higher in available seat km. Overall passenger load factor was down 1.6 percentage points at 84.4%. Lufthansa expects constant currency revenue will fall by between 7 and 8 % in Q4. It said adjusted EBIT for the full year 2016 will be “approximately on [the] previous year’s level”.<br/>
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Ryanair’s plans for its first-ever flights from Frankfurt sparked a bitter response from Lufthansa, which vowed to fight back against the surprise incursion at Germany’s biggest hub. While Ryanair will begin Frankfurt services with just two jets and four routes, Europe’s top discount airline sees potential for a bigger operation there, David O’Brien, its CCO, said at the airport Wednesday. “We doubled our presence in Germany within three years,” O’Brien said. “There is no reason why that pace shouldn’t continue. There is great potential for cheap flights from Frankfurt.” Lufthansa hit back by pledging to “react as appropriate” to the intrusion. CEO Carsten Spohr said his company’s own low-cost Eurowings arm could be drafted in to defend the hub “if there is a need,” while warning airport operator Fraport AG that he expects to pay the same fees secured by the discount giant. raport said it’s entitled to the saving if it adds new routes. Ryanair’s plans for Frankfurt may have blindsided Lufthansa after Michael O’Leary, the Irish company’s CEO, ruled out operations from the airport only last year. “Our boss famously said ‘We won’t fly to Frankfurt,”’ O’Brien stated at the press conference. “He was wrong.” The looming clash pits Europe’s biggest no-frills carrier against one of the world’s strongest travel brands. <br/>
The aviation ministry has ordered Air India to strictly implement the recommendations made by the committee that probed the Mumbai airport accident where a technician died after being sucked inside the aircraft on December 16 last year including banning unauthorised entry inside cockpit and off-duty pilots obtaining flight clearances. Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju recently took a detailed briefing on the lapses that had led to the accident and the safety measures that had been recommended to ensure there was no repeat. Aviation secretary RN Choubey and senior officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation were also present. AI technician Ravi Subramanian had died on the spot — his limbs and head were shredded — as he stood with his back towards the aircraft without realizing that it had started to move. In a serious breach of aviation rules, an off-duty AI pilot travelling as a passenger to Hyderabad had obtained flight clearance from the Mumbai air traffic control. <br/>