German airline Lufthansa said Monday that its net profit for 2006 increased to 800 million euros (1.05 billion U.S. dollars), 77 percent more than the previous year.

The Cologne-based airline, the second biggest in Europe after British Airways, said its revenue for 2006 rose to 19.8 billion euros from 18.1 billion euros in 2005.

The company said it is considering increasing group dividend by 20 euro cents per share to 70 euro cents.

Lufthansa said last month that the number of its passenger increased to a record high of 53.4 million in 2006.

Source: Xinhua