Lufthansa warns of price rises as tourist demand takes off

Lufthansa said Thursday that ticket prices could rise as the cost of energy soars following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Increases in the prices for jet fuel were "too high to be offset by additional cost reductions", group CFO Remco Steenbergen told a press conference. Higher energy costs meant "ticket prices will have to rise", Steenbergen said. The carrier had already "pushed through a couple of price hikes" that have been "accepted" by business and leisure travellers alike, he added. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said the airline was projecting a record summer for tourist activity, with the latest data showing passenger numbers bouncing back from the coronavirus pandemic. Spohr said the number of passengers on Lufthansa flights had "more than quadrupled" in Q1 to 13m, from 3m in 2021, when travel restrictions in many markets were more severe. "New bookings are increasing from week to week," he told a press conference. "We are expecting strong growth in the summer and probably more holiday-makers than ever before," Spohr said. For business travel, the group is expecting traffic to reach "around 70 percent" of its pre-coronavirus level by the end of the year, it said. In all, Lufthansa expects to offer "around 75%" of its pre-crisis capacity over the year. The figure would be higher in the summer for popular tourist destinations, reaching 95% on short-haul routes in Europe and 85 on transatlantic services, the group said.<br/>