Brussels Airlines will be under new management in a few
months as parent company Lufthansa moves forward with integrating the airline
with low-cost carrier Eurowings.
On April 1, Christina Foerster, Brussels Airlines' chief
commercial officer for the past 18 months, will take over as CEO. She replaces
CEO Bernard Gustin, whom Belgian media reported was let go for opposing the
Eurowings integration plans.
Thibault Demoulin, currently SVP flight operations and
deputy accountable manager, will ascend to COO.
"In 2017, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings gradually
started to lay the foundations for a common future, in which the strengths of
both airlines will be combined, with the ambition to build a strong,
sustainable and leading pan-European airline," said Etienne Davignon,
co-chair of Brussels Airlines owner SN Airholding. "Growing within the
Eurowings Group as a Belgian entity will allow us to further build on our
specificities, such as our Africa expertise and our distinguished Belgian
touch."
Lufthansa completed
a full acquisition of Brussels Airlines in early 2017.