FILE PHOTO - An Airbus A380 of German air carrier Lufthansa is pulled for technical maintainance at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German carrier Lufthansa LHAG.DE will continue to fight for market share in the hotly contested market for short-haul flights, where it is determined to compete with budget airlines such as Ryanair RYA.L, its chief executive said.

“We will not be chased away from our home market by those that have been used to come, see and conquer,” Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told journalists late on Monday. “We have the financial strength to counteract.”

Spohr also said that Lufthansa was well positioned for keeping up with the global consolidation in the airline industry, in which only 12 global carriers would exist in the future and Lufthansa wanted play an active role.

Lufthansa in late July blamed price competition on short-haul routes and rising fuel and maintenance for a 25% drop in second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT).