Lufthansa Group Appoints Jens Ritter New CEO of Lufthansa, Annette Mann CEO of Austrian Airlines
- Joe Breitfeller
- Dec 19, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 20, 2021
The Lufthansa Group has appointed Jens Ritter as CEO of Lufthansa Airlines from April 1st, 2022 and Annette Mann as new CEO of Austrian Airlines starting March 1st, 2022. Dr. Jörg Beißel will become the new CFO and Member of Lufthansa Airlines’ Executive Board.
On Friday (December 17, 2021), the Lufthansa Group announced top management changes across the company for 2022. Jens Ritter will become the new CEO of Lufthansa Airlines effective April 1st, 2022, while Annette Mann has been appointed the new CEO of Austrian Airlines starting March 1st, 2022. Additionally, Dr. Jörg Beißel will become the new CFO and Member of the Lufthansa Airlines Executive Board as of April 1st, 2022. From February 1st, Kai Duve will join the Executive Board of Eurowings, in charge of Human Resources and Finance, while Wilken Bormann with join LSG Group’s Executive Board, responsible for Finance and Human Resources. Finally, Frank Bauer will become the new Head of the Group’s Corporate Controlling from April 1st, and Benedikt Schneider has been appointed Lufthansa Airlines’ Head of Cabin Crews – Frankfurt, as of February 1st, 2022.
In Friday’s announcement, Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO, Carsten Spohr, said,
“Filling these top management positions is another important step in our transformation. We are continuing on our course with undiminished speed and are strengthening our position among the leading global airline groups. I am pleased that we were able to fill all positions from within Lufthansa Group – it confirms our successful personnel and leadership development.”
Jens Ritter (48) is currently an Executive Board Member and COO of Eurowings, and will succeed Lufthansa Airlines current CEO, Klaus Froese, on April 1st, 2022. Mr. Froese plans to continue with Lufthansa as a captain, piloting the new Boeing 787 that is scheduled to arrive next year.
Ritter started his flying career with Lufthansa in 2000 as an Airbus A320 pilot, later switching to long-haul duty with Airbus A330/340 aircraft in 2008. In 2014 he was trained as an Airbus A320 captain. Jens Ritter assumed his first management role in 2005 with the ‘A380 Onboard IT’ project, later holding various management positions. In 2014, he took over as Head of Operations Efficiency and Strategy at Lufthansa, while simultaneously leading a project for the Group-wide standardization of flights operations processes. From 2016-2020, Captain Ritter was responsible for the operations of Austrian Airlines as Accountable Manager. He also served as the carrier’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and was part of the carrier’s Extended Executive Board. Most recently, he served as COO and Member of the Executive Board at Eurowings.
Annette Mann (43) is currently the Head of Corporate responsibility at the Lufthansa Group and will become the new CEO of Austrian Airlines from March 1st, 2022. Mann will succeed Dr. Alexis von Hoensbroech who will join Canada’s WestJet Group as CEO by the end of the first quarter of 2022. Annette Mann joined the Group in 2003 as a trainee in the company’s junior executive program. From 2003-2012, she held various positions in the areas of product, sales and strategy at Lufthansa. Between 2013-2015, she was responsible for the commercial and operational launch of Premium Economy Class at Lufthansa. Ms. Mann also headed product management at Swiss International Air Lines in Zurich from 2016 through 2020, and was also responsible for Inflight & Customer Services of the Group’s network airlines. Additionally, she served as a co-negotiator of the partial sale of LSG.
Dr. Jörg Beißel (51) is currently Head of Corporate Controlling at the Lufthansa Group and will become Lufthansa Airlines’ CFO from April 1st, 2022. He succeeds Patrick Staudacher, who will leave that company at his own request at the end of April 2022. Dr. Beißel has been responsible for corporate controlling at the Group since 2018, also heading the ‘Cash Office’ during the pandemic, as well as the company’s ReNew restructuring program. He holds a doctorate in economics and has held various management positions within the Group between 2002 and 2018. Starting as a controlling specialist, he became Head of the Executive Office of the Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG in 2006. Subsequently, he assumed Group-wide responsibility for the company’s efficiency and earnings improvement program, SCORE until 2015. Additionally, from 2015 through 2018, Dr. Beißel served as managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Eurowings.
Source: Deutsche Lufthansa AG