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Carsten Spohr

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Carsten Spohr
BornDecember 16, 1966 (age 59)
Wanne-Eickel, West Germany
NationalityGerman
EducationKarlsruhe University (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
OccupationAirline executive
CompanyDeutsche Lufthansa AG
TitleChairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer
SpouseVivian Spohr
Children2

Carsten Wilfried Spohr (born 16 December 1966) is a German airline executive. He has been chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the parent company of Lufthansa and the Lufthansa Group, since 1 May 2014.[1] Spohr joined Lufthansa in 1994 after training as a commercial pilot and worked through a series of management roles, including head of the group's global airline partnerships and, from 2007, chief executive of Lufthansa Cargo, before joining the main Lufthansa executive board in 2011 and becoming group chief executive in 2014.[2]

Ten months into his tenure as chief executive, Spohr led Lufthansa's response to the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps on 24 March 2015, in which all 150 people on board were killed. He described the crash as the darkest day in the airline's history and travelled to the crash site to meet relatives of the victims, while also facing later criticism from some victims' families over the company's handling of information about the co-pilot.[3][4] Earlier in his tenure he steered Lufthansa through repeated pilot strikes over the expansion of the group's low-cost operations, and later through the collapse in air travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the German government took a temporary stake in the company as part of a state-backed stabilisation package that Lufthansa repaid in full by the end of 2022.[5][6]

Spohr's contract as chief executive has been extended twice, most recently in March 2023 for a third term running to the end of 2028, making him the longest-serving chief executive in Lufthansa's history.[6] He continues to hold a commercial pilot's licence rated for the Airbus A320 family.[1] He is married to Vivian Spohr and has two daughters.[1] In July 2025, Vivian Spohr was involved in a fatal traffic collision in Sardinia, Italy, which became the subject of press coverage in Germany and Italy and of a criminal investigation into her conduct.[7]

Early life and education

Carsten Wilfried Spohr was born on 16 December 1966 in Wanne-Eickel, a town in the Ruhr area of West Germany that had since been absorbed into the city of Herne.[1][8] He completed his Abitur, the German secondary-school qualification that allows entry to university, in 1987.[2]

From 1987 to 1991, Spohr studied industrial engineering at Karlsruhe University (Universität Karlsruhe), the institution that later merged into the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, graduating with a Diplom-Wirtschaftsingenieur degree.[2] Between 1991 and 1993 he trained as a commercial airline pilot at the Lufthansa Flight Training school in Bremen, Germany, and at the Airline Training Center Arizona in Phoenix, qualifying for a commercial pilot's licence.[2][1] He has kept that licence current and, as of 2014, was rated to fly the Airbus A320 family of aircraft.[1]

Career

Deutsche Aerospace and joining Lufthansa (1993 to 2004)

After completing his pilot training, Spohr spent a year, from 1993 to 1994, on the management trainee programme of Deutsche Aerospace AG in Munich.[2] He returned to Lufthansa in October 1994 and initially took charge of the airline's personnel recruiting department.[1] He then served as personal assistant to Lufthansa's chief executive from 1995 until 1998.[1]

In August 1998 Spohr was appointed head of regional partner management, taking responsibility for Lufthansa's regional partnerships across Europe.[1] In February 2000 he became vice-president of alliances and cooperations, managing and coordinating Lufthansa's partnerships worldwide, including the Star Alliance, which Lufthansa had co-founded in 1997.[1] In July 2003 his responsibilities were extended to cover Lufthansa's passenger-business strategy and its airline holdings.[1] In October 2004 he was appointed to the management board of Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, where he was responsible for hub management, cabin crew and human resources.[1][2]

Chief executive of Lufthansa Cargo and the Lufthansa executive board (2007 to 2014)

The supervisory board of Lufthansa Cargo AG appointed Spohr chairman of its executive board, with effect from 15 January 2007.[1][2] He led the cargo airline for four years before moving, on 1 January 2011, to the executive board of the parent company, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, where he took charge of the passenger airline division and became chief executive of Lufthansa German Airlines, the group's flag carrier.[1][2]

Chief executive officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (2014 to present)

On 1 May 2014 Spohr succeeded Christoph Franz as chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, taking overall responsibility for the Lufthansa Group's passenger airlines, logistics, maintenance, catering and IT-services businesses, which then employed around 117,000 people worldwide.[1]

He inherited a company under pressure from lower-cost European rivals. Within his first seven months in the role, Lufthansa twice cut its profit forecasts, and its share price fell by almost thirty per cent, while the group absorbed ten pilot strikes in 2014 alone, including a three-day walkout, which forced the cancellation of more than 6,000 flights at a cost of over 160 million euros in lost earnings.[5] Speaking to journalists in December 2014, Spohr said: "Of course I would have wished for an easier start," adding that "the speed of change required of Lufthansa reflects the speed of change of the industry" and that "there will either be fast change or slow decline."[5] Lufthansa's net profit had fallen to 300 million euros in 2013 from 1.2 billion euros the year before, on revenue of about 30 billion euros, with labour costs representing around a fifth of that total.[5] For the 2014 financial year as a whole, the group reported revenue of 14.9 billion euros and a net loss of 732 million euros, with a workforce of 118,973.[9]

Ten months after taking office, Spohr faced the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, discussed in more detail under Template:Section link below. In the years that followed, he continued to push the strategy, set out under his predecessor and expanded under his own leadership, of shifting short-haul and leisure flying onto the group's lower-cost units, principally Eurowings, while also steering the airline through renewed labour disputes with its pilots' union, Vereinigung Cockpit, over retirement age and pension terms.[5][9]

By 2017, under Spohr, Lufthansa reported an operating profit of close to three billion euros, among the strongest results in the group's history.[6] The COVID-19 pandemic reversed that recovery: international air travel collapsed from March 2020, and the German government took a temporary equity stake in Lufthansa as part of a stabilisation package, before the company returned to profit and fully repaid the state aid by the end of 2022, the year in which the group again posted a billion-euro operating profit.[6] In 2022 the Lufthansa supervisory board reactivated a long-term incentive scheme for the executive board, covering years including 2021, when the company had still been state-supported, a decision that drew public criticism when it was reported in December 2022; see Template:Section link.[10]

On 14 March 2018 Spohr's mandate as chief executive was extended by five years, to December 2023.[6] In early March 2023 the supervisory board extended his contract again, ahead of schedule, for a third term running to the end of 2028; the finance chief, Remco Steenbergen, received an early extension on the same day.[6] The board said that "securing a successful future of the Lufthansa Group" would depend on continuity in its leadership.[6] The extension made Spohr the longest-serving chief executive in the airline's history.[6]

In the middle years of the 2020s, Spohr continued to describe the group's core mainline brand, Lufthansa Airlines, as a persistent turnaround challenge. In October 2024 he said it would likely take until 2026 to bring Lufthansa Airlines "back under control," after the division reported a loss of 427 million euros, even as other parts of the group performed better.[11] As of the 2025/2026 edition of the Federation of German Industries' membership roster, Spohr continues to be listed as chairman of the executive board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and as a member of the federation's Presidium.[12]

Leadership and management style

Accounts of Spohr's leadership during the Germanwings crisis describe him as a hands-on crisis manager who travelled quickly to the crash site and met bereaved families in person rather than delegating the response.[9] In a December 2015 interview with the German weekly Die Zeit, Spohr said the loss of the flight "has relativised everything else, and still lets everything else fade into the background today," calling it the accident with the most fatalities in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. He said he had considered it self-evident that he should fly to the crash site immediately and meet relatives, recalling a meeting with the parents of an entire school class from Haltern whose children had died: "you don't forget that. Every ordinary problem really does pale by comparison."[13]

On strategy, Spohr has favoured continuing an unpopular course once set rather than reversing it under pressure. Defending the expansion of Eurowings and the associated cost cuts in December 2014, he told reporters that "the speed of change required of Lufthansa reflects the speed of change of the industry" and framed the choice facing the company as one between "fast change" and "slow decline."[5] An aviation-industry consultant quoted at the time credited him with being "well-liked and well-respected among the staff" but questioned whether he had the appetite to force through unpopular measures with the airline's unions, remarking that Lufthansa needed "someone to be the bad cop."[5] Spohr's approach to the pilots' 2014 dispute was to keep pursuing the low-cost transition rather than negotiate it away, a position that produced further strikes but which he maintained into 2015 and beyond.[9]

Spohr has also leaned on his own background as a licensed airline captain to engage directly with operational and safety questions rather than leaving them solely to technical staff, a trait particularly visible in his public statements after the Germanwings crash, when he spoke in detail and from personal knowledge about flight operations and aircraft condition.[3]

Major deals and strategic decisions

The central strategic decision of Spohr's early tenure was the board-approved plan, presented in July 2014 and confirmed that December, to expand the group's low-cost subsidiary Eurowings internationally, including into long-haul budget flying, a marked departure from Lufthansa's traditional positioning as a premium full-service carrier.[5] The plan involved shifting short-haul flying away from Lufthansa's main hubs to Eurowings and negotiating separate, less generous labour agreements for Eurowings pilots and cabin crew, with the aim of cutting operating costs on those routes by around thirty to thirty-five per cent compared with the mainline carrier.[5] Since 2012 the group had already cut more than a billion euros in costs and was targeting close to 500 million euros in further savings, achieved partly through around 3,500 job losses and the transfer of domestic flying to the group's then-budget unit, Germanwings.[5]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lufthansa accepted a state-backed stabilisation package that gave the German government a temporary equity stake in the company; Spohr's board subsequently prioritised repaying that aid, which was retired in full by the end of 2022, the same year the group returned to a billion-euro operating profit.[6] In December 2022, with the company newly profitable again, the supervisory board voted to reactivate a long-term incentive programme for the executive board that had been suspended during the pandemic, allowing bonus payments calculated back to 2021 to be paid out in 2025.[10]

Financial and market performance

In Spohr's first seven months as chief executive, Lufthansa's share price fell by close to thirty per cent, and the company twice lowered its profit guidance for 2014 and 2015 amid strike disruption and rising competition from low-cost rivals.[5] Full-year 2013 net profit, reported shortly before he took over, had already fallen to 300 million euros from 1.2 billion euros in 2012, on revenue of roughly 30 billion euros.[5] For 2014, his first year in charge, the group reported revenue of 14.9 billion euros against a net loss of 732 million euros, with a workforce of 118,973 people.[9] By 2017 the group had recovered to an operating profit of close to three billion euros, one of the strongest results in its history.[6] The COVID-19 pandemic then drove the group to substantial losses and a temporary state equity stake, before a return to profitability that saw Lufthansa repay the state aid in full and report a billion-euro operating profit for 2022.[6] By 2024, the mainline Lufthansa Airlines segment was still reporting losses, 427 million euros for the period Spohr referenced in October that year, even as he pointed to 2026 as the target for bringing that business "back under control."[11]

Board memberships and outside roles

Spohr has chaired the supervisory board of Lufthansa Technik AG, the Lufthansa Group's maintenance, repair and overhaul subsidiary, since 2014.[2] He was also, as of late 2018, chairman of the comparable oversight body of SN Airholding SA/NV in Belgium.[2] He served on the supervisory board of thyssenkrupp AG from 2013, initially appointed to a term running to 2020.[2] In 2020 he was elected to the supervisory board of the reinsurer Munich Re, filling the unexpired term of the retiring Kurt Wilhelm Bock, a term that was due to run to Munich Re's 2024 annual general meeting.[14] As of the 2025/2026 roster, he is listed as a member of the Presidium of the Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI), the main lobby group for German industry.[12]

Controversies

Germanwings Flight 9525

On 24 March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, operated by Lufthansa's low-cost subsidiary Germanwings, crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.[3] Speaking at a press conference the same evening, Spohr said the preceding hours had been "the darkest in the company's 60-year history."[3] He described the meeting with bereaved families in Barcelona as "emotional and difficult," said the aircraft had been in perfect condition, and said he could not understand how the crash had happened with two experienced pilots on board.[3] French investigators later determined that the crash had been deliberately caused by the co-pilot, who had a history of severe depression.[13]

Around four months after the crash, relatives of some victims publicly criticised Lufthansa's management, including Spohr, saying that a note in the co-pilot's personnel file about his prior illness had not been acted on during background checks, that Lufthansa had subsequently decided against a permanent two-person cockpit rule, and that no apology had been issued by Spohr personally.[4] Lufthansa responded that Spohr had acknowledged the company's responsibility for the crash from the first day and had apologised for the suffering the disaster caused to the victims' families.[4] Two days after the crash, on 26 March 2015, Lufthansa Group airlines introduced a rule requiring two crew members to be present in the cockpit at all times.[15] In 2017, following a fresh risk assessment, Lufthansa abandoned the rule; the pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit and the cabin-crew union UFO, which had opposed the rule from the start as a symbolic gesture with little practical safety benefit, welcomed the reversal.[16]

Labour disputes

Lufthansa experienced ten pilot strikes in 2014 as Vereinigung Cockpit opposed changes to early-retirement benefits and pensions linked to the airline's cost-cutting programme, including a three-day walkout that, together with other 2014 strikes, cancelled more than 6,000 flights and cost the company over 160 million euros.[5] Strikes recurred in subsequent years as the union continued to resist the shift of flying to lower-cost units; one profile of Spohr's tenure put the cumulative cost of pilot strikes during his leadership at around 200 million euros in lost profit.[9]

Executive bonus payments during state support

In December 2022 Lufthansa's supervisory board reactivated a long-term incentive programme for the executive board, including Spohr, that had been suspended during the pandemic, and structured it so that payments could be calculated back to 2021, a year in which the German government still held its stabilisation-era stake in the company. The decision, first reported by Handelsblatt and confirmed by a company spokesperson, drew public criticism because it rewarded a period in which the company had still been state-supported; under the arrangement, the resulting bonuses were not due to be paid out until 2025.[10]

Vivian Spohr traffic collision (2025)

On 8 July 2025, Spohr's wife, Vivian Alexandra Spohr, was driving a sport utility vehicle in Porto Cervo, on the Italian island of Sardinia, when it struck and killed Gaia Costa, a 24-year-old pedestrian from Tempio, as she crossed at a marked pedestrian crossing on Via Aga Khan.[7] According to Italian press reports, Vivian Spohr had stopped to let a group of pedestrians cross and had not seen Costa, who was reported to be the last of the group, before moving the vehicle forward.[7] Costa was thrown onto the road and later died despite the rapid arrival of an ambulance.[7] Vivian Spohr tested negative for alcohol and drugs at the scene and was placed under investigation by the Tempio public prosecutor's office on suspicion of vehicular homicide (omicidio stradale), a formal step under Italian law that allows a suspect to appoint an expert to take part in the court-ordered autopsy; investigators said they were also reviewing security-camera footage and witness accounts.[7] The case, which involved the wife of a prominent German corporate executive, received sustained coverage in both the German and Italian press.[7]

Personal life

Spohr is married to Vivian Spohr and has two daughters.[1] As of the late 2010s, his official corporate biographies listed Munich as his base.[2]

Recognition

On 3 July 2026, Bavaria's Minister-President, Markus Söder, presented the Bavarian Order of Merit (Bayerischer Verdienstorden) to 68 people at a ceremony in the Antiquarium of the Munich Residenz; Spohr, listed by his full name, Carsten Wilfried Spohr, was among the recipients honoured in the economy, labour and leading-organisations category.[17][8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 <ref>"Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board & Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG".Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Investor Relations.May 2014.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 <ref>"Carsten Spohr, Munich".thyssenkrupp AG.29 December 2018.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 <ref>"Lufthansa boss says past hours 'darkest in 60-year history'".ITV News.25 March 2015.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 <ref>"Germanwings-Absturz: Hinterbliebene fordern Entschuldigung von Lufthansa".Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 <ref>"Lufthansa Chief Carsten Spohr Defends Airline's No-Frills Push".9 December 2014.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 <ref>"Vorstandschef: Carsten Spohr soll Lufthansa fünf weitere Jahre führen".2 March 2023.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 <ref>"Porto Cervo, la morte di Gaia Costa sulle strisce pedonali: ecco chi l'ha investita".9 July 2025.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 <ref>"Bayerischer Verdienstorden für Gerhard Wipijewski".DBW Deutsche Bank- und Finanzgewerkschaft.6 July 2026.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 <ref>"Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa".European CEO.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 <ref>Kotowski, Timo."Vorstands-Boni sorgen für Streit bei Lufthansa".20 December 2022.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 <ref>"Lufthansa Airlines Restructuring Will Take Until 2026, Spohr Says".Aviation Week Network.1 October 2024.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 <ref>"Präsidium".Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI).Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 <ref>""Das gehört nun zu meinem Leben"".23 December 2015.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  14. ↑ <ref>"Media release: Annual General Meeting 2020".Munich Re.2020.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  15. ↑ <ref>"Nur noch zu zweit im Cockpit: Lufthansa führt Zwei-Personen-Regel ein".26 March 2015.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  16. ↑ <ref>"Lufthansa-Flugpersonal hadert mit Zwei-Personen-Regel".22 May 2025.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
  17. ↑ <ref>"Ordensträger Bayerischer Verdienstorden: Teilnehmer an der Aushändigung am 3. Juli 2026".Bayerische Staatsregierung.3 July 2026.Retrieved 28 September 2026.</ref>
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