SWISS CEO Dieter Vranckx has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer of the Lufthansa Group. He will take up his new duties on 1 July 2024. Vranckx will continue to serve SWISS as Deputy Chairman of the SWISS Board of Directors.

Dieter Vranckx, CEO of Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), has been appointed to the Lufthansa Group Executive Board responsible for “Global Markets and Commercial Steering Hubs”. He will assume his new duties on 1 July 2024. The Lufthansa Group’s “Global Markets & Commercial Steering Hubs” division will also be home to “Customer Experience” and “Group Brand Management”, which have to date been part of the “Brand & Sustainability” division. In addition, after more than three years as SWISS CEO, Dieter Vranckx will in future serve as Deputy Chairman of the SWISS Board of Directors.

“I am really looking forward to these new challenges, and to applying my international experience to the entire Lufthansa Group as part of the Executive Board team,” says Vranckx of his appointment. “At the same time, SWISS is my ‘home’, and will always be dear to my heart. So it means a great deal to me that I will also remain closely involved with SWISS in my new capacity.”

A leader through pandemic times

Dieter Vranckx has been at the head of Switzerland’s leading airline since 2021. “Dieter took the SWISS helm at a very difficult time in the midst of the COVID pandemic,” says Reto Francioni, Chairman of the SWISS Board of Directors. “And he and his team have delivered some outstanding achievements. Not only did he guide our airline swiftly, successfully and in sound competitive health out of the global crisis within the airline industry that was prompted by the COVID pandemic: he was also instrumental in stabilizing our company. Our successful conclusion of new collective labour agreements with our social partners for our ground personnel and our cockpit and cabin crew corps are of particular note here.”

“On top of this,” Francioni continues, “Dieter has pursued with great personal conviction our pioneering role at SWISS in helping to ensure more sustainable air travel. Our company stands today as strong as it has ever been before. And with Dieter Vranckx at its helm, SWISS has forged a new SWISS over the past few years: robust and equipped, high-quality and successful, and acknowledged and respected worldwide.”

“I am delighted that I will still be working with Dieter in his new capacity on our SWISS Board of Directors, and that we will thus be able to continue our excellent collaboration,” Board Chairman Reto Francioni concludes. “And I thank him now for all his outstanding commitment, and offer him my very best wishes in his new capacities.”

Over 17 years at Swissair and SWISS

Dieter Vranckx has been serving in the airline industry since 1998 in various executive capacities. He can already look back on some 20 years with the Lufthansa Group, and has spent over 17 years with SWISS and its predecessor Swissair.

Before joining SWISS as its CEO in 2021, Vranckx (who is a Swiss and Belgian dual national) was CEO of sister Lufthansa Group carrier Brussels Airlines. And prior to this he served as Vice President Sales & Marketing Lufthansa Group Airlines (Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings) for the Asia-Pacific region, based in Singapore.

The search for Dieter Vranckx’s successor as SWISS CEO is under way.