Reassignments all part of the Group’s normal rotation policy
Effective 1 July, Thomas Sonntag will take over at the helm of Jettainer GmbH, the leading international service partner for outsourced ULD management. He will thereby succeed Carsten Hernig as Managing Director. Thomas Sonntag, a qualified mechanical engineer, joined Lufthansa Cargo ten years ago as Vice President Procurement & Infrastructure. He has since gained extensive industry knowledge and built up an excellent network with relevant stakeholders all over the world. Currently, he is not only responsible for supply and facility management, but also the Logistics procurement cluster within the Lufthansa Group. He previously held various management roles in a number of companies, including Siemens and ABB.
Effective 1 July, Carsten Hernig will assume the role of Head of Region Latin America & Caribbean at Lufthansa Cargo. He will be based in Sao Paolo. He will report directly to Dorothea von Boxberg, Board Member Product and Sales, in his new position. This move sees Hernig switching back to the parent company after five-and-a-half years with Jettainer. He already held various roles in the cargo airline between 2000 and 2014. He began his career with the company as Manager for Sales Management and Capacity Planning for the Asia-Pacific region, based in Singapore. Hernig was appointed Regional Director Sales Russia & CIS in Moscow in 2003. He held this position until 2007, before moving to Hong Kong to assume the role of Manager Region South China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hernig was appointed Regional Director South Asia, Middle East and Pakistan, based in New Delhi, in March 2008. In this role, Carsten Hernig was responsible for station operation, sales and marketing in 19 countries with 29 subsidiaries in South Asia, the Gulf region and the Middle East up to late 2013. He has been Managing Director of Jettainer GmbH since 2014.
Gunnar Löhr, previously Head of Region Latin America & Caribbean, will assume the role of Head of Supply Management & Infrastructure at Lufthansa Cargo, effective 1 July 2019. Löhr will thereby return to the company headquarters in Frankfurt. He will be responsible for procurement and supplier management at the cargo airline in his future role and will report directly to Dr Martin Schmitt, Board Member Finance and Human Resources. Löhr began his career with Lufthansa Cargo in 2002 as Regional Performance Manager Handling Spain & Portugal in Madrid and later took on various management responsibilities in Sharjah, Dubai and Frankfurt. He was named Director Global Handling Processes & Performance in 2011, before being appointed Director of Regional Management South America, Caribbean & Florida, based in Sao Paolo, in 2015. He has been responsible from there for the entire Latin America & Caribbean region since 2017.
These swaps are intended as staff development measures within the context of Lufthansa’s normal rotation policy for high-ranking management positions.