Air France's Premium Bet

Air France's Premium Bet

March 2023
35 min read
Edward Russell

Issue Overview

Lufthansa’s fourth quarter results are in and — once again — IAG’s were better and Air France-KLM’s were worse. Will the Lufthansa Group forever be stuck in the middle? For any chance of surpassing IAG, it will surely need to lift margins for its core Lufthansa-branded operation; it hopes to do so with new planes and new products. It needs to stop the bleeding at Eurowings and Brussels, too. Will teaming with Italy’s ITA provide a boost? Fortunately, there’s always Swiss, the group’s perennial all-star. Cargo is still producing monster margins but that party is at least quieting down if…