Last week, Moody’s returned to its investment grade rating for Lufthansa Group, upgrading from Ba1 to Baa3. This followed earlier investment grade ratings from Standard and Poor’s and, for the first time, from Fitch. Lufthansa Group is now the only European airline company to be rated investment grade by all leading rating agencies.
Lufthansa Group lost its investment grade ratings from Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s shortly after the outbreak of the Corona pandemic in 2020. Scope Ratings from Europe, however, retained an investment grade rating throughout the crisis. All recent upgrades to investment grade follow the significant improvement in the Group's operating profitability and the strength of its balance sheet.
Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: “Our investment grade ratings are impressive proof of how well we have managed in three years to increase our profitability, to deleverage our balance sheet and strengthen our equity position. We will continue our course of generating high returns and cash flows to invest in profitable growth and create shareholder value.”
