Dive Brief:
- Lufthansa Group CFO Remco Steenbergen will step down as finance chief May 7 as part of a reshuffling of the company’s leadership, the Cologne, Germany-based airline announced in a Thursday press release.
- Steenbergen will also step down as a board member, as will Christina Foerster “by mutual agreement,” the company said in the release. Foerster will depart from her role on June 30, along with board members Harry Hohmeister and Detlef Kayser, whose terms are ending as scheduled, Lufthansa said. As part of the restructuring, the airline is also reducing its board from six members to five.
- “Having successfully mastered the corona crisis, the subsequent recovery of the air transport sector and its business turnaround, the Lufthansa Group is now embarking on the next phase in its corporate development by reshaping and realigning its Executive Board,” the airline said in a statement in the release.
Dive Insight:
Steenbergen will be departing Lufthansa after serving a three-year tenure as its CFO, taking the seat in January 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile. As part of the restructuring, Lufthansa board member Michael Niggemann will serve as interim CFO upon Steenbergen’s departure, the company said.
Niggemann, who joined the company in 2007, has held numerous roles for the airline, including serving as group general counsel and chief compliance officer, according to a company biography. He will assume the interim CFO duties in addition to his existing responsibilities as a board member for the airline’s personnel and logistics business, formerly its human resources and infrastructure division.
The airline also appointed two new members to its board, who will take on leadership roles in its executive team. Grazia Vittadini will become a member of the board effective July 1 for a three-year term, and will serve as chief technology officer, taking responsibility for technology and IT as well as sustainability, Lufthansa said. Dieter Vranckx will also join the board as of July 1 for a three-year term and will take responsibility for the company’s global markets and commercial steering hubs sector, according to the Thursday release.
The leadership reshuffling comes as the airline faces lingering pressures in Germany’s transportation sector, with inflation prompting numerous strikes by airline as well as rail workers. Ground staff for the airline went on strike at major German airports for the second time this month on Tuesday, putting further pressure on wage talks set to continue Wednesday, according to a Reuters report. The strike occurred after the airline presented a wage offer to some 25,000 ground staff last week, which a representative for German labor union Verdi called “blatantly antisocial,” according to Reuters.
Lufthansa could only operate 10% of its scheduled flights due to the strike, which grounded planes at major hubs including Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart and Cologne.
Germany, home to Europe’s largest economy, has faced nationwide strikes from transportation workers in recent years as employees lobby for better working conditions and pay. In January, German passenger train drivers went on a six-day strike, putting further strain on the country’s already troubled train system, The New York Times reported. Earlier this month, local tram, bus and subway workers in Berlin also went on strike as negotiations for new pay contracts for approximately 90,000 employees by 130 local transport operators stalled, according to an AP News report.
The strikes could further weaken Germany’s economy, which is in “troubled waters,” Robert Habeck, the country’s economy minister warned. The government has reduced its growth forecast for 2024 to 0.2% from 1.3%, due in part to a slower-than-expected recovery from the impact of Russia cutting off natural gas supplies after its invasion of Ukraine as well as a lack of skilled labor, according to a U.S. News report.
Lufthansa declined to comment beyond the details included in the press release.
