Deutsche Lufthansa cut its full-year operating profit target today, citing high fuel prices and the impact of the global financial crisis.
The German flagship airline said it now expected operating profit of about €1.1 billion compared with a previous estimate of around last year's level of €1.38 billion.
The news hit Lufthansa's share price, which was down 7.2 per cent at €9.62 by 1603 GMT, while the German blue-chip DAX index was up 6.9 per cent.
Sluggish consumer spending has chipped away airlines' profitability, although easing oil prices promise to take pressure off their massive fuel bills.
Rivals Air France-KLM and Austrian Airlines have both issued profit warning in the past two weeks.
In the first nine months of this year, Lufthansa's revenue grew 13.6 per cent from a year earlier, but surging fuel costs pushed down operating profit by 9.3 per cent to €984 million.
Nine-month net profit fell to €551 million from last year's €1.6 billion, which had been boosted by book gains from asset sales and a one-off tax effect.
Lufthansa is due to publish full nine-month and third-quarter results tomorrow.
Reuters