Lufthansa airlines are only banking on a modest 3% growth in 2012 due to the ongoing economic uncertainty.
The Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, bmi and Germanwings, carried a record number of passengers in 2011.
The total of 106.3 million passengers equated to growth of 7.5% compared with the previous year.
The group increased its capacity by 9.8% overall in 2011, while its revenue seat kilometres rose by 7%.
The average passenger load factor for the aircraft correspondingly fell by two percentage points to 77.2 per cent.
But the group said decreasing sales in the autumn continued in the remaining months of last year, forcing it to be cautious about growth this year.
The 3% growth expected in 2012 will be achieved by using larger aircraft and introducing the new European cabin on Lufthansa branded aircraft.
by Bev Fearis
