Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Thursday that net earnings fell to (EURO)229 million ($270 million) from (EURO)301 million a year earlier. Revenue grew by 6 percent to (EURO)7.9 billion and the number of passengers between April and June rose slightly to 27.5 million.

The Lufthansa group includes Austrian Airlines and Swiss. The Cologne-based company also holds stakes in Brussels Airlines and JetBlue of the United States.

The earnings were bolstered by progress in restructuring ailing Austrian Airlines, which churned out an operating profit of (EURO)26 million in the first half of the year. That compared with a loss of (EURO)64 million a year earlier. Lufthansa did not disclose quarterly figures for the unit.

The results beat the consensus expectation for net profit of (EURO)153 million among analysts surveyed by FactSet, and the company's shares rose by some 3 percent in early Frankfurt trading to (EURO)10.61.

However, Lufthansa reaffirmed its cautious 2012 outlook, saying the group "expects a revenue increase and an operating profit in the mid three-digit million area."