FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The year 2024 is off to an unpromising start for Lufthansa investors. The airline's shares fell by 1.6 percent following a sell recommendation from the US bank Citigroup. They were thus one of the bigger losers in the MDax, which fell by 0.2 percent at the same time. In contrast, the Dax rose at the start of the year.

Citigroup expert Sathish Sivakumar lowered his rating for Lufthansa to "sell". He believes the industry's recovery from the pandemic is coming to an end. This applies to both short-haul routes in Europe and transatlantic routes. The decisive factors under these circumstances are flexibly plannable capacities and better pricing power - aspects that speak more for Ryanair or IAG than for Lufthansa. The latter's shares were also up on Tuesday.

In the industry study, the expert anticipates a weak development of ticket prices on long-haul routes for Lufthansa. In addition, the engine problems with some A320 jets are putting pressure on the German market leader's margins./tih/jha/