LONDON (Reuters) -Lufthansa reported on Thursday quarterly operating earnings slightly above expectations as it has struggled to finalise a deal with unions to avoid a potential strike and recover its profits.

This comes in the wake of the group's promise of an ambitious turnaround plan, designed to cut costs and centralise operations across its complex multihub operation.

The group reported a third-quarter operating profit of 1.33 billion euros ($1.55 billion), a touch above the 1.32 billion euros projected by analysts polled by LSEG. That is down 1% from the same quarter last year, when the group reported an operating profit of 1.34 billion euros.

It also confirmed its 2025 guidance for operating profit, or earnings before interest, taxes and special items, to be significantly above last year's 1.6 billion euros.

The third quarter, which includes the busy summer months for travellers, is usually the strongest for European airlines.

"Even though we must continue to work intensively on the turnaround of our core business and the efficiency of our airlines, we can confirm our forecast of a significant improvement in earnings in 2025 today," Chief Executive Carsten Spohr said in a statement. 

(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Kirsti Knolle and Muralikumar Anantharaman)