Lufthansa Becomes the Largest Airline in Europe

In 2018, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group carried a total of 142 million passengers, setting a new passenger record and overtaking Air France-KLM. In December 2018, the airlines of the Lufthansa Group welcomed around 10 million passengers on board their aircraft. This corresponds to an increase of 6.9 per cent over the same month last year. The German carrie boosted traffic, three times than the pace of its main rivals.

The airline credits natural growth that includes the purchase of smaller brands includes SWISS, Austrain, and Brussels Airlines, and also the extreme growth of its budget brand Eurowings Group. 

By contrast, Air France-KLM has had to deal wtih labor unrest as well as overhauls in the brand by management.