The Lufthansa subsidiary gets a new management.
Frankfurt Lufthansa has announced several changes in management for the coming year. As of March 1, Annette Mann will be the head of the Austrian subsidiary Austrian Airlines (AUA) and successor to Alexis von Hoensbroech, as the group announced on Friday.
The 43-year-old is the first woman to head the AUA. She was previously responsible for corporate responsibility and sustainability in the Lufthansa Group. The previous AUA boss is leaving the company “with immediate effect at his own request”.
For Europe’s largest airline group, the departure of the AUA boss is a major loss. Von Hoensbroech is considered a top manager in Lufthansa circles who should still make a career in the group. He was already unofficially considered to represent Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr. His job as AUA boss was viewed internally as an “exercise” for even higher tasks, as Vienna is a location that is heavily dominated by low-cost providers.
In the eyes of Spohr, the native of Cologne did his job with flying colors, according to Lufthansa circles. Last year, Hoensbroech negotiated the Austrian part of the rescue package for the Lufthansa Group and did so with a certain degree of severity. So the manager wrested clear concessions from the employee representatives, which were a prerequisite for the aid of the state.
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But obviously the 51-year-old father of five in the Lufthansa Group no longer saw a future for himself. Spohr, at 56 years only slightly older than von Hoensbroech, should continue to run the group for some time.
Talking to competitors
At the same time, von Hoensbroech is being courted by the competition. Last April, the doctor of physics was already traded as CEO of the Scandinavian airline SAS. He won’t change there now. But he becomes the new head of the Canadian airline Westjet.
Lufthansa announced further personal details on Friday: From April, the Lufthansa Airlines will be managed by Jens Ritter, who will replace the previous CEO, Klaus Froese. The position of CFO, which Jörg Beißel will take over from Patrick Staudacher in April, will also be filled at this management level below the Group Board of Management.
The executive board of the cargo subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo is due for a new appointment on March 1: Dietmar Focke is moving from Lufthansa Technik to the post of operations and personnel manager. He succeeds Harald Gloy, who, like Staudacher, is leaving the Lufthansa Group on his own initiative.
More: State earns a billion in Lufthansa rescue