FRANKFURT, Germany, July 31, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - German airline group Lufthansa said Thursday its profits more than doubled in the second quarter as demand grew and stuck to its targets despite heightened global uncertainty.

Net profit for the April-June period came in at one billion euros ($1.2 billion), up from 469 million a year earlier, with the result also boosted by tax and currency effects.

Sales grew three percent to 10.3 billion euros.

Analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet had forecast net profits of just over 500 million euros for the group, whose carriers include Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines.

"The Lufthansa Group remains on course," said CEO Carsten Spohr.

"Although the second quarter was again marked by geopolitical crises and economic uncertainties, we are today confirming our positive outlook for the full year."

The group expects operating profits to be "significantly higher" than the 2024 result of 1.6 billion euros.

More than 37 million passengers flew with the group's airlines in the second quarter up from 35.9 million a year earlier.

There was a "positive result" from its acquisition of a minority stake in ITA Airways -- the Italian state-owned carried born from the ashes of Alitalia -- at the start of the year, it said.

Its air freight arm also doubled its operating profit due to high demand for e-commerce deliveries from Asia while a turnaround programme at the flagship Lufthansa carrier was bearing fruit.

The results also benefitted from a comparison with the same period a year earlier, when Lufthansa was facing a wave walkouts.