FRANKFURT, Germany: Lufthansa has said it anticipates returning to profitability as early as this quarter, based upon the renewed demand for business and leisure travel, coupled with its raising ticket fares.

Lufthansa group, which owns Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian and Brussels Airlines, saw sales double in the first quarter, as the public returned to traveling after two years of lockdowns and travel restrictions.

However, Lufthansa's first-quarter operating losses were larger than analysts had expected.

"As the pandemic subsides, families, friends and business partners around the world are traveling to meet each other again. And I think the world is also coming to realize how important friendly personal contacts are," Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said at a news conference.

Lufthansa also reported this week that first quarter revenues doubled from one year earlier to 5.36 billion euros, exceeding analysts' average forecast for sales of 5.12 billion euros. At the same time, it was unable to reduce losses as much as expected due to greatly increased fuel prices due to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Lufthansa reported that its adjusted loss before interest and taxes narrowed to 591 million euros in the first quarter, compared to a loss of 1.05 billion euros for first quarter 2021.

"We live in a world where we see incredible inflation and price increases. We see that in commodities, hotels, rental cars. And I think price increases are significantly more in those other industries than for us," finance chief Remco Steenbergen added.