Lufthansa keeps unit costs stable in Q4 on cost purge

[FRANKFURT] Deutsche Lufthansa managed to keep its unit costs stable in the fourth quarter, indicating that CEO Carsten Spohr’s cost-cutting push is beginning to pay off.

Unit costs – a key airline metric measuring the expenses for each seat flown – were stable in the final three months of 2025 compared with the year-ago period, an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News said.

The performance, achieved depite a 10 per cent increase in fees and levies, was credited to the efficiency programmes rolled out across the group.

In the first two quarters of 2025, its unit-cost increases were still running at 3 to 4 per cent year on year.

Spohr is seeking to rein in its expenses at Europe’s largest aviation group by consolidating its administrative functions and eliminating 4,000 back-office jobs by 2030.

He is also shifting more short-haul flying away from Lufthansa’s higher-cost flagship airline to lower-cost units – including Discover Airlines and Lufthansa City Airlines.

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His ambitions have been complicated by aircraft delivery delays and the risk of more labour disruptions – such as the pilot and crew walkouts earlier in February.

The delays have forced the airline to resort to older, less fuel-efficient models.

Lufthansa is set to report full-year earnings on Mar 6. BLOOMBERG