German airline Lufthansa today repeated its forecast for lower 2003 earnings and said the war in Iraq would extend the crisis plaguing the airline industry since the September 2001 attacks on the United States.
"Our assessment after September 11th has been proven right:the crisis will not be overcome within one year," ChiefExecutive Mr Juergen Weber told a news conference.
"The end is not in sight and it will be extended through thewar that started in the middle of the night," he said, addingLufthansa was likely to ground more airplanes.
Following the US strikes on Baghdad overnight, Lufthansasaid it was cancelling flights for two days to Tel Aviv, Ammanand Kuwait in the face of a US-led attack on Iraq.
The airline said further decisions depended on how thesituation in the Middle East developed.
The airline repeated that 2003 earnings would not match thoseof last year but said the uncertain geopolitical situation andsluggish economy made it impossible to give a firm forecast forthe year.
The airline said net debt in 2002 had fallen to €1.1 billionfrom €3.8 billion and cash flow increased33.2 per cent to €2.3 billion.
Earnings per share came in at €1.88 compared to a lossper share of €1.66 the year before.
Yesterday the airline said its 2002 operating profitsrose strongly to €718 million, but the result implied afourth quarter operating loss wider than most analysts hadexpected.
Lufthansa said traffic revenue in 2002 fell 1.8 per cent to€12 billion. Total revenue, the airline said previously,came in at €17 billion.