Lufthansa reports Q1 losses of €190m

Lufthansa says it is working hard in a difficult market to recoup earnings lost through strikes as it reported a narrower first-quarter loss yesterday.

The German airline is also fighting competition from low-cost rivals such as Easyjet, Ryanair and Vueling, which are increasing services to larger airports, making it harder for Lufthansa to recoup losses from last month’s three-day pilot strike.

Air France-KLM last week also spoke of a tough economic climate and airline industry body IATA said yesterday that demand for air travel had slowed in March, with growth of 3.1%, compared with 5.6% in February.