Lufthansa, Europe’s biggest airline by market value, warned on Wednesday its 2009 earnings targets faced “very considerable risks” because of fresh oil price rises and stubbornly weak passenger demand.

The German carrier said in a brief statement ahead of its full results on Thursday it had made a net loss of €32m for the first nine months of the year, after a net profit of €529m over the same period the previous year. Revenues slumped 13 per cent to €16.2bn.