Air Berlin Q2 net profit falls 9 pct
FRANKFURT - FRANKFURT (AP) — German airline Air Berlin PLC said Tuesday its net profit fell about 9 percent in the second quarter as the global economic downturn continued to weigh on air travel.
The Berlin-based company, Germany's second largest airline after Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said it earned €7.1 million ($10 million) in the April-June period, compared with €7.8 million in the second quarter of 2008.
Sales for the period fell to €836 million from €869 million a year earlier, a 4 percent decline.
Passenger levels fell 5.5 percent during the quarter to 7.2 million from 7.7 million.
Air Berlin said fuel costs had abated during the second quarter from high levels in the first quarter, while other operating expenses also showed declines.
Air Berlin did not provide a detailed outlook beyond saying it expected full-year earnings before interest and taxes to surpass the 2008 level of €14.2 million.
The company added it thought the worst of the recession had passed, but that risks of particular significance to the aviation industry still remain.
"These include in particular future consumer behavior, which — in Germany at least — has so far developed remarkably robustly. This could change for the worse during the second half of the year with further increases in unemployment and less of a stabilizing effect from part time employment, which could then impact airline travel," Air Berlin said in its report.
Shares of Air Berlin closed down 2.5 percent to €3.09 in Frankfurt.
For the first six months, the company posted a net loss of €81.4 million compared with a net loss of €52 million in the first half of 2008.
Sales for the first half of the year were €1.50 billion compared with €1.52 billion a year ago, a near 2 percent decline. Passenger levels fell 6 percent during the first half of the year to 12.7 million people. The first quarter is generally the slowest for airlines.
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