Lufthansa Group executive vice president of sales
Jens Bischof will move within the company to become managing director of
SunExpress, a leisure joint venture with Turkish Airlines. The change is part
of a sales personnel reshuffle taking effect Jan. 1. Rumours had circulated
since the summer that Bischof would move from his current position, where he
spearheaded Lufthansa’s new, contentious distribution strategy, which includes
a €16 Distribution Cost Charge on bookings made through global distribution
systems. Bischof was responsible for worldwide sales of all the group’s network
airlines and commercial operations at its hub in Frankfurt. A successor is
expected to be named next month.
In other changes, a key player in Bischof’s strategy,
Germany sales chief Uwe Müller, will become joint managing director of
agency chain Lufthansa City Center International. Middle East and Africa sales
boss Tamur Goudarzi Pour will become vice president of sales for the Americas,
succeeding Jürgen Siebenrock, who becomes vice president for
home market sales and global key account management. Vice president for
European sales Heike Birlenbach will assume additional responsibility for the
Middle East and Africa.