2026 is not going to be an easy year for the airline industry. However, thanks to Fuel hedging and the side effect of passenger rerouting by Europe Q1 didn’t look as bad as it could have for European carriers. That includes Lufthansa, which saw revenue grow by 8% and an EBIT result also improving by €110 million. However, below the surface, Lufthansa Main Line is still bleeding cash heavily.
In this post:
- The Lufthansa Group Q1 2026 Performance
- Lufthansa hemorrhaging cash in Q1 of 2026
- The other Group’s airlines performance
- The effects of fuel and passenger rerouting
- MRO and Cargo performing strongly
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The Lufthansa Group Q1 2026 Performance
| Business Unit | Q1 2026 Adj. EBIT | Q1 2025 Adj. EBIT | Trend & “Straight Talk” Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lufthansa Group (Total) | -612m EUR | -722m EUR | Slight Improvement. Driven entirely by non-passenger units. |
| Network Airlines (Total) | -605m EUR | -650m EUR (est) | Poor. Marginally better, but still hemorrhaging cash. |
| SWISS | +31m EUR | Positive | Stable/Profitable. Benefiting heavily from temporary rerouting yields. |
| Brussels Airlines | -55m EUR | Negative | Struggling. Weighed down by strikes and structural costs. |
| Lufthansa Mainline & Austrian | -581m EUR (derived) | Heavily Negative | Disastrous. The flagship is the anchor dragging the passenger segment down. |
| Lufthansa Technik (MRO) | +158m EUR | Positive | Strong. The actual breadwinner of the group. |
| Lufthansa Cargo | +83m EUR | Positive | Strong. Sustaining the group alongside Technik. |
The overall picture shows something encouraging, which is that the Lufthansa Group has been able to improve its performance for Q1 in 2026 over 2025.
The overall group revenue grew by 8% year over year, reaching 8.7 billion euro for the quarter.
Additionally, the adjusted EBIT for the quarter was negative 612 million euro, which is a huge improvement by 110 million euro compared with the 722 million euro EBIT loss in 2025 Q1.
However, the data is cleverly put in order to hide a more significant story. That is the fact that this solid group has an anchor that is weighing it down, and surprisingly, it is the largest airline of the group, Lufthansa.
Lufthansa hemorrhaging cash in Q1 of 2026
This has become somewhat of a trend with the Lufthansa Group airlines performing reasonably well and the Lufthansa Group bleeding heavily in cash.
That is also the case in Q1 of 2026, when Lufthansa has probably had and EBIT below -500 million euro. I had to use the word probably because we do not have the exact figure from Lufthansa main line.
The data from Lufthansa Mainland was baked into the network airline segment in order to partially hide exactly how much the loss was in Q1, as this has become a trend and it doesn’t look good.
The other Group’s airlines performance
Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines aside, we do know how much Brussels Airlines and Swiss brought to the table in terms of EBIT.
Swiss International Air Lines was once again the best performer of the group with a €31 million positive EBIT or CHF 30 million.
Brussels Airlines, rather unsurprisingly, didn’t perform that well, It rarely does. The Belgian airline posted a €55 million negative EBIT.
The effects of fuel and passenger rerouting
All airlines in the group noted that the full effect of the energy shock, which will be hitting the aviation industry in the form of jet fuel cost, still hasn’t been felt.
The Lufthansa group, as the Air France-KLM group also hedges its fuel, meaning that, although costs increased in Q1, the airline did not feel the effect of it. However, that effect will be hitting hard in Q2 and Q3, which will make for a few rough months ahead.
The group expects this to cost €1.7 billion more than their initial fuel cost estimate for 2026.
The group also states how the disruptions in the Middle East did have a positive effect on the passenger traffic figures. However, I wouldn’t put that much as a win because easy come, easy go. As traffic starts re-transiting the Middle East. It was only a temporary bump where passengers had no other solution but to re-route through European airline hubs to get to their destination.
MRO and Cargo performing strongly
Something positive to take away from this Q1 of 2026 is the strong performance that certain non-passenger divisions of the group posted.
Specifically, the MRO and logistics of the Lufthansa Group perform very well. Lufthansa Technik which is the group’s MRO division posted a €158 million positive EBIT, while Lufthansa Cargo was also positive with €83 million EBIT.