Lufthansa sees losses of €2.1 bln loss after air travel declines drastically in Q1

Lufthansa reported a substantial loss for the first quarter and said restructuring was necessary as its results were “significantly impacted” by coronavirus pandemic.

The German airline reported a net loss of 2.1 billion euros ($2.35 billion) for the first three months of the year on Wednesday. This compared to a loss of 342 million euros over the same period the year before.

It comes as passenger numbers dropped by more than 26% in the first quarter, compared to a year ago.

Write-downs contributed to the loss, with Lufthansa recording an impairment charge of 266 million euros on decommissioned aircraft. It also wrote down 100 million euros on the book value of its catering unit LSG North America and 57 million euros on budget airline Eurowings.