Frankfurt — Lufthansa's boss struck an optimistic tone on Thursday as he revealed the firm's results for the past year, but said considerable uncertainty lay ahead for the flagship German airline.
"We are very certain that air traffic will experience a strong upswing this year," chief executive Carsten Spohr said on Thursday.
However, major uncertainties surrounding the developments in Ukraine, the consequences of the conflict as well as the uncertain course of the pandemic did not allow for a detailed financial forecast.
The board did not commit to a position on whether Lufthansa would return to profit in 2022.
The airline pointed to some encouraging signs, however, after "the financially most difficult two years in our history": bookings for the Easter and summer holidays, for example, were almost at the level they were in 2019 before the pandemic hit, the firm said.
In 2021, Lufthansa was able to reduce its losses by two-thirds to around €2.2 billion ($2.44 billion) thanks to a partial recovery in the passenger business and a profit its cargo division.
The adjusted operating loss fell by 57% to some €2.3 billion and was slightly higher than experts had expected.
Without the costs incurred by a restructuring of the group's businesses - which also included the elimination of thousands of jobs - the adjusted operating loss would have been just under €1.8 billion.
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