Lufthansa Makes Record Profit, Axes Berlin-New York Route

Lufthansa Group posted record profits in 2017, the behemoth German-based aviation group reported on Thursday.

The airline collective, which includes Lufthansa, Eurowings, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines, made profits totaling $2.92 billion last year, which was 33% higher than financial experts had predicted. Lufthansa Group said it also increased its customer base by 20 million passengers and grew revenue by 12%.

The jump in earnings and passengers is due in part to the bankruptcy of rival carrier Air Berlin. When Air Berlin declared bankruptcy in 2017, Lufthansa bought more than half of its operations, including 81 of its airplanes, 3,000 members of its staff and Air Berlin subsidiary regional carriers Niki and LG Walter.

Lufthansa's record earnings report comes as the airline announces it's cutting its Berlin (TXL) - New York (JFK) route because the carrier was unable to obtain the ideal arrival and departure times to fill the flights and make them profitable. Passengers instead will have to connect through Frankfurt if they want to fly Lufthansa between TXL and JFK.

H/T: The Local