airlines will lose money in the first quarter but profits from there are set to zoom higher said deutsche bank as it upgraded three european carriers to buy on friday deutsche bank upgraded air franceklm international consolidated airlines group and deutsche lufthansa to hold from buy and said the german airline was its top pick air franceklm af and lufthansa lha shares each rose 3 and international airlines group iag shares rose 2 analysts led by jaime rowbotham say there’s scope for a much quicker recovery in network airline profits than before yields or average fares will continue to track 20 above precrisis levels for the first nine months of the year before softening in the fourth quarter the analysts also say that fuel costs will come down as jet fuel in the spot market has dropped while the euro has increased in value they acknowledge that nonfuel unit cost targets will be tough to meet owing to disruptions at airports airtraffic control issues and potential labor union activities its new operating profit estimates by this year have been hiked by 32 at lufthansa by 7 at air franceklm and by 16 at iag