Lufthansa carried 13,332,000 passengers in September, down 1.2pc on September 2025 and 4.1pc on pre-pandemic. Rolling annual was 133,685,000, down very slightly 0.07pc on the twelve months to September 2025. This compares with a rolling annual of 215m for Ryanair in the twelve months to September 2026.
The Lufthansa group’s passenger numbers for the six months to June 2026 were 60.7m, down 1.1pc on the first six months of 2025. A strike by the pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (alongside cabin crew union UFO) had a severe negative impact on passenger traffic in April, causing a drop of 8.2pc in passenger numbers for the group and driving an 11.pc year-on-year drop in monthly passenger figures at Frankfurt airport. More recently, pilot union negotiations have broke down again.
The Lufthansa Group operates a multi-hub strategy consisting of five core network carriers, a direct point-to-point airline, and several regional, holiday, and cargo subsidiaries.
Core airlines
- Lufthansa: The flagship flag carrier of Germany, based primarily out of hubs at Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport.
- SWISS (Swiss International): The national carrier of Switzerland, operating out of Zurich.
- Austrian: The national carrier of Austria, operating out of Vienna.
- Brussels: The national carrier of Belgium, based in Brussels.
- ITA: The national carrier of Italy (formerly Alitalia), which is fully integrated into the group’s network airlines.
Other carriers and subsidiaries:
- Eurowings: The value and low-cost subsidiary focused on short- and medium-haul routes throughout Europe.
- Discover Airlines: The group’s dedicated holiday and leisure carrier based in Germany.
- Edelweiss Air: A premier Swiss holiday and leisure airline operating in close coordination with SWISS.
- Air Dolomiti: A regional Italian airline providing feeder flights to the Frankfurt and Munich hubs.
- Lufthansa CityLine: A regional subsidiary operating domestic and European hub feeder flights.
- Lufthansa City Airlines: A newly launched regional airline operating short- and medium-haul routes.
- Lufthansa Cargo: A major international air freight carrier operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
- SunExpress: A leisure airline operating flights between Germany and Turkey, managed as a 50/50 joint venture with Turkish
