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Frankfurt - German flag carrier Lufthansa said Thursday it hoped to improve operating profit and turnover next year despite turbulent times, as it announced a 36-percent drop in operating profit in 2012.
Operating profit plunged by 36.1% compared with the previous year to stand at €524m ($679m) - a decline the firm blamed on a much higher fuel bill than in 2012.
Overall turnover was up 4.9% to €30.1bn and net profits also rose strongly thanks to one-off gains from the sales of its British Midland airline and shares in the parent group, it said in its annual earnings statement.
"2013 will be a particularly challenging year for the companies and their employees," warned Lufthansa chief executive Christoph Franz, whose group comprises several airlines including Austrian Airlines and SWISS.
Last year, the group launched a huge restructuring programme in a bid to boost operating profit by €1.5bn in 2015 compared to the 2011 level.
As part of this programme, dubbed SCORE, Lufthansa introduced some 800 cost-cutting measures that contributed some €618m to the firm's turnover.
"The Lufthansa Group expects to make further progress with SCORE and to improve its operating result in 2013," the firm forecast, confirming preliminary earnings results published in February.
In a separate statement, SWISS said it would buy Boeing planes for the first time, ordering six twin-engine 777 jetliners at a cost of €1.2bn ($1.6bn) to replace its four-engine Airbus A340s.
The Boeing aircraft would fly to destinations like San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Beijing and Johannesburg with a capacity of 330 seats, and would cut fuel costs and CO2 taxes by 23 percent compared with the A340s, SWISS said.
