Berlin: German airline Lufthansa said on Wednesday that its net profits had almost doubled in the third quarter, boosted by a pensions deal with cabin staff.

Net profits soared to €1.42 billion ($1.5 billion, Dh5.7 billion) between July and September. Last month, Lufthansa raised its profit forecast for the year, after recording better-than-expected demand from business travellers in September.

More than €700 million of provisions the group had set aside flowed into its results this quarter after it reached a deal to move from defined-benefit to defined-contribution pensions for cabin crew.

Excluding such exceptional items, the group recorded an operating profit of €1.15 billion, down 6.3 per cent compared with the third quarter in 2015.

“The Lufthansa group is developing with stability in a difficult market environment,” chief executive Carsten Spohr said in a statement.

“We are responding to the price pressures in the air transport sector with consistent capacity and cost discipline.”

Confident of its performance in the final months of the year, Lufthansa had already increased its annual forecast in late October.

Based on its adjusted operating profit for the first nine months, of €1.68 billion, the group said it aimed to achieve a full-year performance “approximately on the previous year’s level” — when the same measure stood at €1.8 billion for the full 12 months.

Lufthansa Group, which includes Austrian Airlines, Swiss, and low-cost Eurowings, carried 32.7 million passengers between July and September.

That was an increase of almost 600,000 compared with the same period in 2015, some of which the firm put down to an increase in business bookings in the traditionally busy month of September.

But revenue shrank to €8.83 billion, a slight decrease of 1.2 per cent compared with the third quarter last year.

Lufthansa laid plans to expand its capacity in the third quarter, aiming to complete its acquisition of Brussels Airlines and lease 40 aircraft from struggling German competitor Air Berlin.

Both moves are designed to strengthen Eurowings, which booked a €35 million loss in its adjusted earnings between January and September compared with a €60 million profit over the same period in 2015.

The low-cost subsidiary suffered a day of strikes by cabin crew last week, recalling waves of walkouts, which inflicted heavy costs on Lufthansa during 2015.

Overall, the group said it would slow the growth in its capacity over the rest of the year “to help further stabilise the pricing environment”.